The ultimate goal of High Fidelity Wraparound is to help families realize their hopes and dreams by finding success at home, in school, and in their communities. A core Wraparound principle is unconditional care and persistence—the belief that “families don’t fail, plans do.”
This principle ensures that the team never gives up. Instead, they adopt a “whatever it takes” approach to support families. For parents, this means knowing you are not alone—your team is committed to standing by you, even when challenges feel overwhelming or solutions take time to build.
What Unconditional Care and Persistence Means
Unconditional Care
Unconditional care means the Wraparound team stay with a family through challenges. It is a commitment to keep finding new ways to meet a family’s goals, even when the path forward is unclear. In practice, this looks like:
- Staying engaged even when progress is slow.
- Seeing families through a strengths-based lens and building on their potential.
- Recognizing setbacks, crises, and mistakes as normal—not reasons to withdraw support.
The Role of Persistence
Persistence means the team consistently works toward solutions, adapting strategies until progress is made. In action, this includes:
- Returning to the planning table after a setback to brainstorm new options.
- Treating challenges as opportunities for growth and learning.
- Coordinating across systems to secure needed resources.
Unconditional Care means doing whatever it takes…and in those moments when a family loses hope, I hold that hope for them.
Melissa Lawton, LFMT Seneca Family of Agencies12 Tips to Build Resilience in Your Family
Persistence requires resilience Resilience helps families navigate challenges and sustain long-term progress. Here are 12 ways to build it:
- Cultivate a support network.
- Practice positive self-talk.
- Set manageable goals.
- Stay adaptable in changing situations.
- Prioritize self-care (sleep, nutrition, movement).
- Strengthen problem-solving skills.
- Foster emotional regulation (mindfulness, breathing, journaling).
- Celebrate every success—big or small.
- Encourage help-seeking when needed.
- Model resilience as a parent or caregiver.
- Focus on strengths, not limitations.
- Practice gratitude daily.
What This Means For You And Your Family
For parents and caregivers, unconditional care and persistence in Wraparound mean you have a team that supports your goal for success and will consistently assist you and guide you until you’ve reached your goal.
- You’re not on your own. Even when things feel hard, your team stays with you.
- Setbacks aren’t failure. If a plan isn’t working, the team revises it—you don’t have to quit.
- Hope is ongoing. Commitment builds trust and reminds you that your family is worth sticking with.
- Your voice matters. You guide decisions, and your values shape every step of the plan.
Unconditional Care and Persistence In Practice
An Example in Every Day Life
Imagine a family with bedtime routines that fee chaotic and overwhelming. Instead of giving up, the you and your team might:
- Revisit the goal: “A smooth, calm bedtime routine.”
- Brainstorm with you: Could calming music or a short story help? Would another family member assist?
- Try a modified plan: Adjust bedtime earlier or use a visual cue like “five minutes until sleep.”
- Adapt until the plan works.
Your family and your Wraparound team might face challenges with larger consequences like: how to keep your teen in school, or how to teach a teen to respect a curfew as a family boundary. The principle remains the same:
- Revisit the goal;
- Brainstorm for other tactics to solve the challenge;
- Try the new modified plan.
- Adapt the plan until it works
Unconditional Care and Persistence At Home
While Wraparound teams lead with this principle, families can also model unconditional care and persistence at home:
- Practice radical empathy – Understand behaviors in context, without judgment.
- Set realistic expectations – Progress isn’t linear; celebrate small wins.
- Keep communication open – Stay engaged and informed as a partner in the process.
- Demonstrate reliability – Follow through and show consistency.
- Adopt a strengths-based view – Focus on what your child and family can do.
The High Fidelity Wraparound framework promises that Every family has strengths that can be built on, every child deserves support, and no one is beyond care.
The ultimate future-guiding principle for California Wraparound: unconditional care; that is, persistence, and what I like to call “relentless effort.” Whatever it takes gets done to empower children, youth, and families to soar! This requires a focus that never turns its back on families, no matter the circumstance.
Jarred “Jay” VermillionSOURCES:
Bruns, E. J., Walker, J. S., & The National Wraparound Advisory Group. (2008). Debating “Persistence” and “Unconditional Care”: Results of a survey of advisors of the National Wraparound Initiative. In E. J. Bruns & J. S. Walker (Eds.), The resource guide to wraparound. Portland, OR: National Wraparound Initiative, Research and Training Center for Family Support and Children’s Mental Health. https://nwi.pdx.edu/NWI-book/Chapters/Bruns-2.5-(persistence).pdf
Vermillion, Jarred & UC Davis Human Services (2024) Aligning for Action: California’s Wraparound Initiative Taking Flight to New Heights! https://humanservices.ucdavis.edu/blog/aligning-for-action
National Wraparound Initiative (2024) Wraparound Process User’s Guide, A Handbook for Families. https://nwi.pdx.edu/pdf/wraparound-process-users-guide-2024.pdf
The City of Alexandria VA. (2022) High Fidelity Wraparound for Children’s Behavioral Health. https://www.alexandriava.gov/child-and-family-services/high-fidelity-wraparound-for-childrens-behavioral-health-in-dchs
Seneca Family of Agencies (2022). Seneca Family of Agencies: Unconditional Care. Video
