This change thing can be overwhelming.  Sometimes it feels like it is only change for change's sake.  Other times it feels like change is the only answer to bringing about real differences in the outcomes that children and families achieve.

What does it mean to be strength-based, family-centered, evidence-based and outcome-driven?  What is this wraparound approach that everyone seems to be doing, but still looks so different from one place to the next?  Even it if feels like what we're doing now doesn't seem to be working as well as we would like, how do we know things will be any better if we try something new?

These are some of the questions we explore in the articles and power point presentations stored on this site.  The primary authors, Patricia Miles and John Franz, have had the privilege over the years to be invited to join a number of large scale change efforts designed to incorporate those concepts and launched Paper Boat to hold the cargo of ideas and reactions that these projects produced.

As with anything made of paper (and in this case, its only virtual paper) our boat and the ideas in it are fragile, but we have tried to present them as honestly and clearly as we could.  A variety of articles that trace the development of the wraparound approach can be found in the Article Archive.  Power Point presentations from a wide range of workshops can be found in the aptly named Presentations link.  The Virtual Workshops link also has Power Points, but more extensive ones, with more exercises.   Another section contains information about Directive Supervision, Patricia's new system for coordinating strength-based, outcome-driven management of human service agencies.

The Residentialy-Based Services section contains materials developed to help the state of California establish four pilot projects that will integrate residential and community-based services for children and youth with severe emotional and behavioral disorders.

We hope that taking a voyage in our boat helps you get closer to accomplishing the changes and innovations that you believe will make things better in the systems where you work.  If it does, please use the Contact Us link to let us know.

Again, thanks for coming aboard.

Sincerely,

Pat and John