​What is the Families Plus 'wraparound' approach?

There are many different organizations in the Delta County community to support children who are struggling, from school programs to human services. Despite these well-organized efforts, most children who are vulnerable and undeserved get no coordinated ongoing services at all until their situations are critical.

Families Plus wraps services around each child. The parents indicate what their child’s needs and help their team to find ways to get and keep what is needed as long as needed.
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The Families Plus Wraparound Health Care Model organizes the community and the health care system to step in early and stay involved with a complete package of support that hold promise to bring these children through into healthy self-sufficient adults.

Who We Serve: what children and families are in our program?

Families Plus is available for long term supports with children and youth who are growing up in families with very large challenges that are not likely to go away soon.  These families often  find that they run out of resources to meet so many needs.  Families Plus can help in the long term with the invitation of the parent(s). We welcome all styles of families and lifestyles from intact families, blended families, single parent and grandparent led families. We focus on Families that have high needs children but have low resources to ensure the child needs are met.

Here are the circumstances that typically occur in families who enter our program:

• ​One or more children in the family have behavior problems or other extra challenges.
• The family is led by a single parent with little reliable  social support.
• The family has too little money as shown by difficulties paying rent, providing food, or having any transportation.        
• The parents have challenges of their own that make it hard to meet all of the challenges of all of the children including a disability, chronic mental illness, chronically poor physical health, a history of substance abuse, a history of legal problems, or a history of conflict with agencies.
• The caregivers are grandparents who report they are overwhelmed by the circumstances of regular care of grandchildren.
• The child already has experienced trauma, multiple traumas, or complex trauma due to any of the family circumstances listed above.
• One of the children has a persistent, complex, and severe form of mental health issues that appear to be beyond what the family can manage alone, even though they have some resources and stability. This criteria does not necessarily involve the types of complications described above. 

Families Plus Wraparound Model

Therapist

Families Plus Therapist on our staff include Psychologists, Licensed Professional Counselors, Licensed Clinical Social Workers, and Licensed Marriage and Family Counselors. They are at the center, coordination resources and wraparound services ensuring the needs of each child and the family are being met.

• Experts in helping children work through behavior and emotional problems
• Present to back up the parents and grandparents
• Specialized training in trauma informed care, child and adolescent treatment, substances abuse​ treatments; family therapy; and system-of-care treatments
• Available to the families with whom they work for  24/7

Child

​  Participating children are just as lively and talent-filled as children throughout Delta County.  However, their challenging circumstances create a basis of poor adult physical and mental health.
Despite the best efforts of their parents and caregivers these children more than others  may have:

• Experienced traumatic events
  
• Live in severe poverty
  
• Live with grandparents
  
• Have special education learning problems
  
• Have missed preventive care medical appointments
  
• Have moved frequently
  
• Have limited transportation
  
• Have extra big smiles!
  

Parents/CareGiver

​Families Plus believes on supporting families. If the parents or care givers feel supported they will better be able to support their children.

• Participating parents love their children so much that they are willing to include others in tending the needs of their children
• Are typically highly resourceful -  making very few resources stretch a very long ways
• Have high hopes and dreams for their children​

Parent Partner

Parent Partners are Families Plus staff members that are dedicated to supporting parents and families so they can better support children.

• Paraprofessionals that stand right alongside of parents to help them find resources to provide for their children using the philosophy “Where there is a will there is a way
• Help parents work with programs to get needed fee discounts so children can afford to participate
• Stand behind parents who are facing life problems as inadequate housing, broken cars, health problems, or legal entanglement.  ​

Healthcare providers

Families Plus strives to ensure that every child's health needs are met, whether that is physical or mental. We work with doctors, pediatricians, and dentist in Delta County to ensure that kids are getting their annual check-ups.

mentoring family/Tag-along mentors

Our mentors are a crucial part of our wraparound model. They are volunteers in the community that rise to the occasion.

• Community volunteers that offer to have one child into their home and activities as requested by the parents.  These volunteers give the parent a break and provides additional experiences for learning and growing
• Can be a whole family with children in the home; an empty next family; a single adult
• Tend to form healthy relationships with the child and be available for the child indefinitely
• Understand the overwhelming importance of the child’s parents or family-care-givers to his or her development
• Offer their time and caring with no compensation other than seeing a child develop well
• Encouraged to have children tag along with their activities and to offer what they can easily give as far as time and not more

Tag-Along Mentors

• Adults or older youth who enjoy inviting one child to share their hobby or passion with them. Examples would be fishing, weight lifting, quilting, gardening, going to public events…
• The possibilities are limitless for including one child.  Children love new experiences and have as many interests as adults
• Adults who will allow an older youth to spend short periods at work with them to observe their work activities and maybe help in small ways
• Tag-along mentors can offer brief opportunities for youth to have experiences that are new and  character building

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Community volunteers and donors

​Families Plus focuses on bringing the community together to help children in challenging circumstances for the better of the community.

• ​We work to ensure that each child is in skill building and extra curricular activities outside of school. We do this by working with community partners and covering activity expenses.
• Almost 200 Delta County residents have mentored a Families Plus participant over the years
• Mentors, tag-along mentors, tutors, bakers, assemblers, drivers etc all put in what they have to support youth in Delta County
• Fam+ Board of Director consists of 11 individuals
• that donate their time each month to keep the organization efficient and strong
• Business donors: many local businesses give $300 or more a year to support services for Fam+ children
• Individuals join the Hand-up Club and give $100 or more each year to support services for these children
• Combining volunteer hours, mileage, and goods Delta County residents invest well over $100,000 a year into these children

Teachers

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• Classroom teacher spend many hours with their students
  
• Can help guide a child through developmental challenges working jointly with the parents and therapists and mentors
  
• Fill out behavioral assessment to help gauge the needs of the child
  
• Help keep each student on grade levels in their learning
  

​The family selects what support will be helpful to them and their child. These supports come from either of two sets of services supported by Families Plus: Health and Community

Community Component

It truly takes a village to raise a healthy child. A sense of community is developed around each Families Plus child and family. The lives of our families are often chaotic and we strive to provide a sense of security. Our staff screens and trains volunteers to help parents provide a highly enriched world for their child.

While living at home with the benefits of being with their own family, Families Plus children also spend time with their mentoring family to experience stability, structure, warmth, and supportive expectations for their behavior and success. Volunteer “mini-mentors” contribute skill-building activities, such as painting or athletic pursuits. Because parents in difficult circumstances and without resources often do not have a stable friend who is there when they need someone, both the mentoring family and the mini-mentor provide that needed support.

​We provide a variety of other services to children and families to improve their quality of life and chances at success. We have part time staff called “parent partners” that work to help families find resources and ensure their child needs are met.

• whole volunteer families (the mentoring family) to be permanent mentors to a child
• tutors to help improve grades that are below a C
• grade monitoring with help for parents to see that their child’s homework is done
• Assistance to parents in working out problems at school
• tag-along mentors to work with children on skill building
• enrollment fees for sports programs, youth clubs lessons, and summer camps
• help to find transportation to doctors’ appointments, sports practices, etc.
• Help cover activity cost for sports, music lessons, and other extra curricular skill building activities.
• respite care for the child during crisis
• assistance to parents in advocating for their child's needs
• goods and services that the family needs (e.g., rides, washers, dryers, beds)
• mothers- and fathers-day gifts for the children to give and to learn appreciation
• assistance to the family when in crisis
• gifts during Christmas

Health Component 

The licensed psychologist, or professional counselor that is assigned to each child guides health care services and coordinates an entire team of volunteers. The Families Plus electronic health record on each child documents all his or her care. This organized support goes on year after year with less and less professional coordination until the child emancipates. We strive to ensure no health needs go unmet. 
In our innovative mental health care program, a mental health professional designs a plan for each child to improve a problem behavior. The therapist then works with the natural parents and child, mentors, teachers, and other supporters to work through the problem. Therapists also help mentors and other volunteers cope with the stress of some family situations. The strength of our model and its impact are illustrated by dramatic measurable changes in the well-being of children as they progress through the program.

• A licensed mental health care professional assigned to each child and his/her family to coordinate services and consult with parents, teachers and volunteers
• Therapy for behavioral problems or emotional distress by a mental health professional
• A complete, annual mental health evaluation
• Assistance if needed to access dental checkups twice a year and follow up dental care
• Assistance if needed to get a well child checkup and followup medical care
• Help for the family to prevent the child from engaging in substance use and abuse

Videos About Families Plus Program

Families Plus Clinical Programs

Families Plus Executive Director Dr. Brenda Holand talks to Dr. John VanDenBerg about the Families Plus wraparound model and the role of our clinition (therapist) at Families Plus.

Families Plus Evidence Based Practices

Executive Director Dr. Brenda Holland talks with Dr. John VanDenBerg about how evidence based methods are used and put into practice in the Families Plus program.

Families Plus Outcomes

Executive Director Dr. Brenda Holland and Dr. John VanDenBerg talk about the real life results, outcomes, and stories of Families Plus.

Families Plus Mentoring Works

Mentoring is a key part to children success at Families Plus and the impact is long lasting. Learn how mentoring is a key part of Families Plus. Dr. Brenda Holland talks about the impact. Mentors and the families of the children they are mentoring share their stories.