History & Approach
In 2003, John VanDenBerg, Eric Bruns, and John Burchard penned a “History of Wraparound.” This essay describes how Wraparound originated as a philosophy and grassroots movement. These origins continue to serve as a source of both strength and challenge for Wraparound. Instead of being designed and tested by a single person or research team, Wraparound practice and supporting policies were inspired by families and have evolved through a process of ongoing innovation on the part of advocates, trainers, and providers around the nation. This process has stimulated creativity, adaptability, and fit to local context that would be far more challenging if Wraparound was a less flexible and locally adaptable model. Historically, the lack of shared standards or guidelines for Wraparound practice has created problems around quality assurance and fidelity. Through their respective missions, the National Wraparound Initiative, National Wraparound Implementation Center, and the Wraparound Evaluation and Research Team all strive to uphold the principles and core practice elements of Wraparound while still allowing the model to be flexible, adaptable feasible, and cost-effective.
Creating the National Wraparound Initiative
While the term Wraparound came to be more widely used throughout the 1990s, there was still no formal agreement about exactly what constitutes Wraparound. Some programs were able to document extraordinary successes; however many teams and programs were not operating in a manner that reflected the Wraparound principles. Over time, it became increasingly clear that it would be impossible to establish evidence for Wraparound’s effectiveness without a clear definition of the practice.
In June of 2003, the Research and Training Center on Family Support and Children’s Mental Health hosted a national meeting in Portland, Oregon, and invited over 30 parents, parent advocates, Wraparound trainers, practitioners, program administrators, researchers, and systems of care technical assistance providers. This was the first meeting of what became the Advisory Group of a new National Wraparound Initiative. By the end of the meeting, the group reached a consensus about what is most needed to promote high quality in Wraparound:
- Clear definitions of the Wraparound philosophy and the Wraparound practice model
- Specific strategies on how to achieve high-quality Wraparound at the family, team, provider, and system levels
- Minimum standards for Wraparound practice and for supporting families, teams, and practitioners
- Implementation and fidelity tools–aligned with the strategies and standards for Wraparound–that could inform quality improvement and be used in more rigorous evaluation
- Handbooks for youth, caregivers, practitioners, and team members that explain Wraparound and what should be expected during implementation
NWI Today
The NWI is now a collaboration among two research institutions:
The University of Washington School of Medicine (UW) hosts the Wraparound Evaluation and Research Team (WERT), which disseminates the tools of the Wraparound Fidelity Assessment System, supports hundreds of states to collect data using these tools, and conducts research and evaluation on Wraparound and its implementation.
Innovations Institute at the University of Connecticut School of Social Work is the hub of training and workforce support for the National Wraparound Implementation Center (NWIC). As of 2026, Innovations will also host the NWI website, adding the NWI–and the information it provides to for the Wraparound community–to the wide breadth of content they already disseminate.
The NWI, Innovations, and UW WERT remain committed to the four elements of its core mission:
- Supporting community-level planning and implementation through implementation blueprints, self-assessment tools, and technical assistance.
- Promoting professional development of Wraparound staff by providing implementation strategies and tools, a framework for staff development, and quality assurance for training and coaching via the work of the National Wraparound Implementation Center.
- Ensuring accountability through dissemination of web-based systems for monitoring fidelity and outcomes, and research on Wraparound implementation and outcomes.
- Sustaining a more vibrant and interactive national community of practice by bringing together hundreds of NWI members and initiatives nationally who provide energy and resources while also benefiting from sharing information and being linked together.