What is the C.A.R.E.S. Model?

C.A.R.E.S. (Coordination, Advocacy, Resources, Education and Support) is a community-based prevention and diversion model utilizing High Fidelity Wraparound to serve families (primary caregivers) with a least one child under the age of 18 at risk for abuse, neglect, or abandonment. C.A.R.E.S. engages and builds upon families’ strengths using the Wraparound Principles to prevent children from entering or penetrating deeper into the formal child welfare and/or juvenile justice system.

C.A.R.E.S. identifies the family’s strengths and needs, convenes customized family team meetings inclusive of natural and community supports, and drafts an individualized and well-coordinated plan of care to improve family functioning and reduce the likelihood of child abuse and neglect. The model focuses on family strengthening, using measurable goals and outcomes that result in family stabilization and preservation support so that children may remain in their homes, community, and schools free from system involvement.

The Results

family cuddling together

Thousands of children and families remain safely in their homes, free from abuse and neglect, and working to improve their daily lives. Most families who completed the C.A.R.E.S. program do not have a verified report of maltreatment at the six, twelve-month, and 18 month follow up. The C.A.R.E.S. program was published in Families in Society at the Alliance for Strong Families and Communities.

The study, titled “Reducing Risk: Families in Wraparound Intervention,” found that the program reduces the occurrence of verifiable child maltreatment by applying core principles of wraparound with Family Team Conferencing to voluntarily enrolled families at risk for child maltreatment. The program has also been recognized as an evidence-based promising practice by the California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare (CEBC).

C.A.R.E.S. Model Replication Sites:

mother and child touching foreheads and mother's hands are holding the bock of little girl's heads while mother is smiling

  • Volusia County, FL
  • Hillsborough County, FL
  • Sanford, FL
  • San Diego, CA
  • Billings, MT
  • Sioux Falls, SD
  • Watertown, SD
  • Anchorage, AK

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Replication, please Contact Us!