An interview with a recent "graduate" shows how the principle of unconditional care-consistent support through any circumstances-has built new lives and renewed hope for participants in Chicago's Kaleidoscope Project. (Author)

Reviews the Sacred Child Project in North Dakota, a tribally developed version of the wraparound process. The effort combines contemporary human services with the spiritual and cultural wisdom of the tribes. The article is based on an interview and conversation between the authors and John VanDenBerg, a wraparound consultant. (Author/GCP)

Examines nine risk-reducing and resilience-building programs that provide insights into what works for troubled children and how to build places where resilience thrives. Programs highlighted include those for families during the prenatal period, those that address preschoolers and schoolchildren, and programs that move toward the ultimate goal of…

Recounts how one community's response to tragedy illustrates that a community-based system of care can meet the needs of individuals, families, and organizations in culturally competent ways. Examines how the implemented program successfully meets the community's needs for coordinated children's mental health services on the community's terms.…

Recounts the story of one young man's wraparound team, composed of and organized by his friends, to illustrate the positive influence that peers can have when they are involved in the wraparound process. Provides practical suggestions for recruiting peers and for roles they can play on the team. (Author/GCP)

Argues that we can help develop resilience in youth by using a nontraditional approach to changing the fragmented manner in which most services are provided. This approach can include demonstrating desired behaviors instead of relying on the enforcement of mandates or directives to support the change process. (GCP)

Explores a socially resilient system of care and two key elements of the wraparound process: cultural competence and discovering family strengths, preferences, voice, and choice. Demonstrates the basic elements of an organized, resilient system of care and community strengths and includes exercises in social resilience, cultural competence, and…

Provides suggestions for transitioning to family-centered services. Discusses how to establish commitments from schools and agencies, how to bring staff into the process of change, how to develop family-centered initiatives, how to provide appropriate training for staff, ways to overcome resistance, and strategies for matching services to need.…

Although youth would be better served by the strengths-based resiliency paradigm, it is much harder to actually shift from focusing on the problems that placed a youth at risk to focusing on the strengths a youth has developed to handle the problems. Article considers how challenging such change can be and offers suggestions for meeting the…