Wraparound Makes a Difference, and We Have the Data to Prove It!
How do you know if your Wraparound families continue to be successful after services have ended? Much of this answer will come down to what kind of outcomes data you collect.
In Ventura County, we have a unique relationship between Children and Family Services (CFS) and our Wraparound provider, Seneca Family of Agencies, where we share outcomes data one year after Wraparound services have concluded.
Our collective goal is for 90% of families who are referred to Wraparound to have no substantiated referrals at 12 months following the conclusion of Wraparound services.
To measure whether we have achieved this goal, we collect very basic data points for each family that include the name, date of birth of the youth identified for services, the 19-digit CWS/CMS client ID number, start date for Wraparound, discharge date for Wraparound and the discharge reason.
No Substantiated Referrals Are:
- An allegation (made by a mandated reporter) where the investigating social worker concludes that no harm occurred to a child
- An investigation determination that no maltreatment occurred to the child
- A determination that there was no evidence to find that child abuse or neglect did occur
Our data analytics team in child welfare then runs the state client identification numbers through CWS/CMS one year after the family completes Wraparound services, where they can see if children from families who completed the Wraparound program have had no substantiated referrals at 12 months following service-completion.
From July of 2022 to July of 2023, out of the 31 youth enrolled in Wraparound services, only two youth had a substantiated referral to child welfare. That comes out to a 94% success rate.
Looking a little closer at the numbers, 20 youth successfully completed Wraparound, and only one youth had a substantiated referral within 12 months. Of the 11 youth who did not fully complete Wraparound services, only one youth had a substantiated referral.
Keeping It Simple to Assess Effectiveness
Keeping it simple is helpful. The screenshot included illustrates how easy of a measure this can be. We know that there are many factors that influence the outcome of a family’s involvement with child welfare, and we also know that it’s not just one service that makes a difference. Yet, the youth referred to Wraparound tend to have some of the most complex cases in our agency. Gathering this data helps us assess the effectiveness of this important intervention. This is just one example of outcomes data that we collect for services contracted out by the County of Ventura – Children and Family Services.
To learn more about our work in Ventura County visit our Strengthening Families website.