Wraparound Immediate Needs Explained
California is preparing for a major transformation in how foster care supports are structured and funded. As part of the state’s new Tiered Foster Care Rate Structure, the Wraparound Immediate Needs, or WIN, Program is being developed to help ensure that children and youth in foster care receive timely, coordinated support based on their individual needs.
At its core, WIN reflects an important shift: support should follow the child, not simply the placement type. Rather than relying on a one-size-fits-all approach, the new structure is designed to use the Integrated Practice Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths tool, commonly known as IP-CANS, to better understand each child or youth’s strengths, needs, and circumstances.
What is the WIN Program?
The Wraparound Immediate Needs Program is intended to support children, youth, and nonminor dependents who have more significant needs identified through the IP-CANS process. These needs may include behavioral health concerns, trauma-related stress, neurodevelopmental needs, social service needs, family support needs, or other factors affecting safety, stability, and well-being.
The goal is to create a more coordinated, whole-child response. Instead of asking families and caregivers to navigate multiple systems alone, WIN is designed to bring services and supports together through a structured, team-based model of care.
Why WIN Matters
Many children and youth in foster care have experienced trauma, disruption, loss, or instability. When needs are not identified early or addressed in a coordinated way, challenges can become more complex over time. WIN is intended to help close those gaps by supporting earlier intervention, stronger coordination, and more responsive care.
The program is centered on several important goals:
- Identifying and addressing the unique needs of children and youth more effectively
- Improving consistency and quality across service delivery
- Supporting family-based and community-based placements whenever possible
- Prioritizing kinship and natural connections
- Reducing reliance on congregate care when children and youth can be safely supported in home and community settings
This approach aligns closely with what AFS has long understood: children do best when they are surrounded by stable relationships, responsive services, and caregivers who have the tools and support they need.
The Role of High Fidelity Wraparound
High Fidelity Wraparound, or HFW, serves as the foundation for WIN. HFW is a collaborative, family-centered model that brings together youth, families, caregivers, natural supports, professionals, and community partners to develop and implement an individualized plan of care.
Unlike more fragmented service models, HFW looks at the full context of a child’s life. It considers not only clinical needs, but also relationships, school, culture, community, family strengths, caregiver support, permanency, and daily stability.
This matters because children’s needs are rarely isolated. A youth’s mental health, placement stability, family relationships, education, identity, and sense of belonging are deeply connected. WIN builds on the HFW model to help ensure services are coordinated, culturally responsive, and connected to the real circumstances children and families are navigating.
How Funding Fits into the Model
Under the Tiered Foster Care Rate Structure, Immediate Needs funding is expected to be available for eligible children and nonminor dependents in higher-need tiers. These funds are intended to support timely access to services and help fill critical gaps when existing systems or traditional funding sources do not fully meet a child or family’s needs.
- Immediate Needs (IN) funding is allocated based on the youth’s assigned tier. The California Department of Social Services (CDSS) has proposed setting aside specific monthly amounts from the total IN funding to create these flex fund pools. The proposed amounts are based on the youth’s assigned tier.
- Flex Funds: A portion of the IN funding is set aside as “flex funds” (amount depending on the tier) for youth in Tiers 2, 3, and 3+. These funds are pooled at the county level and can be used for a broad array of services that are not otherwise Medi-Cal reimbursable. These funds are central to the program’s “anything necessary” approach, ensuring that the unique needs of a child and family can be met even when traditional medical services do not apply.
- Alternative Uses: While Medi-Cal HFW is the primary use for IN funding, funds can be used for alternatives, such as other mental health services or flex funds, if HFW is declined, completed, or if no WIN team is available nearby.
Beyond the specific WIN/IN funding, flexible supports for youth in HFW can also be drawn from other sources, such as Behavioral Health Services Act (BHSA) Full-Service Partnership (FSP) funds, Child Welfare Realignment Funds, and FFPSA Part IV Aftercare Allocations. This ensures that the requirements of any single funding source do not limit the resources available to meet a family’s needs.
In practice, this means WIN is about coordination as much as funding. It is a way to better align services around the child and family so that supports are more accessible, responsive, and effective.
WIN Operational Structure
The program is operationalized through a Third-Party Administrator (TPA). The TPA is responsible for several critical functions:
- Financial Management: Handling payments, tracking, and reconciliation between the state, counties, and providers.
- Certification: Administering the provider’s WIN certification portal.
- Accountability: Ensuring overall program accountability and enacting program design guidance.
For children aged 0–5, the program is developing specialized approaches because the standard decision support criteria for HFW (which rely on specific CANS data) have not yet been established for this age group.
As part of the state’s new Tiered Foster Care Rate Structure, the Wraparound Immediate Needs, or WIN, Program is being developed to help ensure that children and youth in foster care receive timely, coordinated support based on their individual needs.
As we’ve noted before on the AFS blog, California is embarking on a groundbreaking transformation of its foster care funding model, known as the Tiered Rate Structure (TRS), which is set to begin on July 1, 2027.
AFS will continue monitoring these developments and sharing updates as more information becomes available. As California moves toward this new structure, our focus remains clear: helping children, youth, and families access the right supports at the right time, in ways that promote stability, healing, connection, and hope.
