Wraparound Milwaukee is a system of care for children with serious emotional, behavioral, and mental health needs, and for their families. The program emphasizes developing services that are strength based, highly individualized, and community oriented, and delivering them to families. This wraparound approach is based on an identification of the services families really need to care for a child with special needs. It identifies the personal, community, and professional resources to meet those needs, and it wraps those services around the child and family. Youths are referred to the program by probation officers or child welfare workers.

Managed through the Child and Adolescent Services Branch of the Milwaukee County Mental Health Division in Wisconsin, Wraparound Milwaukee attempts to meet the mental heath, substance abuse, social service, and other supportive needs of the most complex youths in the Milwaukee community.

The evaluation demonstrated significant improvements for delinquent youths. An assessment of pretest and posttest scores reveals that youths involved with wraparound services significantly improved functioning at home, at school, and in the community. In addition, the evaluation demonstrated a significant reduction in recidivism rates. In the 3 years preceding discharge from the program, 56 percent of the participants were referred for felonies, compared with 33 percent of the participants during the 3 years following discharge. Similarly, in the 3 years prior to discharge from the program, 79 percent of the participants were referred for misdemeanors, compared with 43 percent of the participants during the following 3 years. The reduction was consistent for many types of offenses (1 year following enrollment) including sex offenses (14 percent to 2 percent), property offenses (42 percent to 15 percent), assault offenses (20 percent to 5 percent), and weapons offenses (11 percent to 3 percent).