At a meeting today in the Wisconsin Dells, more than 400 behavioral health professionals furthered their commitment to Wisconsin’s Children’s System of Care, a Department of Health Services (DHS) initiative to enhance the public behavioral health system’s care and treatment services for children.
Wisconsin’s Children’s System of Care is not a service or a program. It is a way of addressing barriers to well-being known as wraparound. Wraparound is a planning process that brings people together from different parts of the child’s life. This team creates a plan built around the child’s strengths and needs that includes ways to assure the child can experience success in their home, school, and community.
Until recently, in most counties and tribes, children accessed the public behavioral health system through either Coordinated Services Teams Initiatives or the Comprehensive Community Services program. Wisconsin’s Children’s System of Care blends these supports to provide a seamless network of services united by the values and principles of wraparound.
At today’s meeting, representatives from Adams, Dodge, Sauk, and Sawyer counties shared how they have taken steps to integrate their Coordinated Services Teams Initiatives and Comprehensive Community Services program to meet the goals of Wisconsin’s Children’s System of Care. Staff in the DHS Division of Care and Treatment Services is providing guidance to many more counties and tribes in various stages of this integration effort.
