Chapin Hall

In August of 2022 the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) began formal implementation of Community-Based High-Fidelity Wraparound, which serves youth with complex emotional, behavioral health, or mental health needs who are in DCFS care or in intact families. Wraparound provides family-driven and strength-based support with a focus on identifying and coordinating individualized case strategies. Four private child welfare contributing agencies offer Wraparound in 57 counties. The program aligns with requirements in the federal Title IV-E Prevention Services Clearinghouse and DCFS has applied for federal approval to add High-Fidelity Wraparound to their list of Family First interventions.

Chapin Hall is partnering with DCFS to provide implementation support and to evaluate Wraparound. These efforts include an evidence-based continuous quality improvement (CQI) process in which data support decision-making related to referrals, engagement, program completion, and model fidelity.

The following research questions guide the ongoing evaluation and CQI:

• Do youth with complex behavioral, emotional, or mental health needs who receive Community-Based High-Fidelity Wraparound achieve better safety, permanency, and well-being outcomes compared to similar youth not enrolled in Wraparound?
• How do young people, caregivers, caseworkers, and coordinators experience Community-Based High-Fidelity Wraparound? How do they perceive Wraparound supporting (or not supporting) them in attaining their goals and achieving positive outcomes?

The program is in an early start-up phase, so Chapin Hall experts are helping the implementation team monitor key metrics for CQI. Key data from the first year of implementation between August 1, 2022 and July 31, 2023 suggest:

	An average of 40% (110.5/257) of the available Wraparound slots were used each month, peaking at 65% (117/180) in February 2023.		Wraparound participants engaged in Wraparound services, on average, for 4 months.
	Wraparound-facilitated child and family team meetings and family meetings recorded monthly overall fidelity scores of 87% on average.		Outcomes are not statistically conclusive at this stage of the evaluation.

As implementation continues to scale up and the sample size increases, Chapin Hall will conduct more in-depth quantitative analyses to evaluate the impact of Wraparound on child and family outcomes. In addition, focus groups and interviews with Wraparound coordinators, caseworkers, caregivers, and youth will elevate the voices of those with lived experience and provide context for the quantitative findings by answering “why” and “how” questions. This mixed-methods evaluation design will provide breadth and depth of understanding about Community-Based High-Fidelity Wraparound.

For more information about this project, please contact Policy Fellow Mary Sue Morsch or Research Fellow Dr. Brian Chor.