HFW Resource Center / Practitioners
The Ten Principles of Wraparound in Everyday Practice
Use observable questions and examples to examine how the principles shape decisions with youth and families.
In this article
The principles of Wraparound become visible in small decisions: who speaks first, how a need is described, which options are considered, and what happens when a strategy fails. Practitioners can use the ten principles as a way to examine their work with a family and identify a specific improvement.
California’s HFW standards connect the principles to expectations for family experience, team practice, organizational support, and evaluation. The examples below are discussion prompts. Formal fidelity assessment requires the applicable tools, training, and program procedures.
Family voice and choice
Invite the youth and caregiver to define priorities before the team settles on strategies. Explain available choices and the decisions governed by legal or service requirements. Ask, “Where can we see the family’s priorities in this plan?” A record of attendance gives limited information about influence; the discussion and resulting decisions reveal more.
Team based
Develop a shared plan with people who have a meaningful contribution to make. Clarify how each person’s work relates to the others. When several agencies are involved, check whether they are working toward compatible goals and whether the family understands their responsibilities.
Natural supports
Explore the family’s existing relationships and community connections. Ask whom the youth trusts and who has helped during ordinary life. Seek consent and agreement before assigning tasks. A useful review question is, “Which relationships could continue beyond professional involvement, and what support do those relationships need?”
Collaboration
Team members share responsibility for carrying out the plan and resolving obstacles. A facilitator can ask each person to describe the next action they will take and when they will report back. When agencies disagree, make the decision path and responsible authority clear instead of leaving the family to negotiate the conflict alone.
Community based
Consider where the youth and family live, learn, work, and spend time. Strategies should be usable in those settings and should support participation in community life. Transportation, accessibility, schedules, and a sense of belonging can determine whether a resource is actually available to a family.
Culturally competent
Learn how the family describes its identity, language, values, traditions, and relationships. Ask how those preferences should affect planning. Use appropriate interpretation and accessibility supports. Tribal participation and sovereignty require attention to the applicable responsibilities and should be addressed specifically when relevant.
Individualized
Choose strategies for the particular need and circumstances. Two youth with a similar presenting concern may need different approaches. Ask what information explains the choice and what alternatives were considered. A standard service list may be useful for identifying resources, but the team still needs to establish the fit for this family.
Strengths based
Identify strengths that can contribute to an action. A youth’s interest in music, a caregiver’s planning skill, or a trusted relationship should have a practical role when relevant. If strengths appear only in an introductory paragraph, ask how the plan could use them more meaningfully.
Persistence
When progress is limited, revisit the explanation of the need, the accessibility of resources, and the team’s follow-through. Continue working with the family to find an appropriate approach within safety, legal, and service responsibilities. Avoid describing a family as unwilling before understanding what prevented participation.
Outcome based
Agree on changes the youth and family would recognize in daily life. Choose measures that connect to those changes and review them together. Service activity, such as appointments attended, can be useful information, but the team should also examine whether functioning, safety, relationships, or other identified priorities are improving.
Use the principles in supervision
Illustrative exercise: Review one recent team decision. Identify the need being addressed, the options discussed, whose views influenced the choice, and who agreed to follow through. Then select one question to revisit with the family. The purpose is to improve the next conversation rather than produce a general score without sufficient evidence.
A supervisor might notice that several plans contain extensive professional services and little evidence of natural supports. The next step could include observing how staff ask about relationships, discussing family preferences, and checking whether the community offers accessible opportunities. A single pattern can reflect a skill gap, a resource gap, or both.
Record the action chosen, provide the support needed to carry it out, and return to the issue after the next opportunity for practice. This makes the principles part of routine learning.
Sources and further reading
Practice examples and discussion prompts were prepared by KFA for this educational collection. Illustrations do not describe identifiable clients or establish results for KFA’s planned HFW program.
For KFA’s current certification, funding, and service availability, visit our HFW program page. For questions about a particular family or situation, contact info@mykfa.org to arrange a private conversation.
