Meeting

All CARES-Live Meeting Attendees:

 The CWDS Project Team previously concluded CARES‑Live releases to support the transition to CWS‑CARES; this decision was communicated to the organizations on June 30, 2025. In alignment with that decision—and following the successful deployment of the final CARES‑Live release—we proposed during the April 15, 2026 Quarterly CARES‑Live meeting, to formally discontinue these meetings after April 2026.  A poll was conducted during the meeting, allowing participants to vote on whether to discontinue or continue the quarterly meetings. The overwhelming majority voted to discontinue.

Ending the meetings will allow counties to dedicate more time to Prod Sim activities and other CARES‑related priorities.

All existing support services will remain in place and continue uninterrupted until the statewide rollout of CARES V1 is complete.

• New User onboarding processes will remain in place and continue as usual
• CARES-Live Demonstrations will continue to be provided upon request
• CANS Duplicate Assessment Clean-up will continue to be processed on a semi-annual basis
• CARES-Live Usage/Metric reports will continue to be made available
• CWDS Service Desk will remain available and will continue to track, review and coordinate with the technical teams on SNOW tickets submitted by CARES-Live users until the statewide rollout of CARES V1is complete
• Customer Relations will remain available to address county questions at CWS_CustRel@otsi.ca.gov

Action Required

No Action Required - Effective immediately, the Quarterly CARES Live meetings will be discontinued, and the session scheduled for July 2026 will not take place.  

Child Welfare Directors, Child Welfare Director-Alternates, Tribal Leadership, Probation Leadership, Core Constituents, CARES SPOCs, and Implementation Coordinators:

Child Welfare Leadership and CWS-CARES Meeting Participants,

As part of our ongoing effort to provide you greater insight into upcoming meetings for the CWS-CARES project, please see the updated CWS-CARES Meeting Calendar for March – May 2025. This calendar includes all meetings hosted by the CWS-CARES project, including Core Constituent demonstrations, implementation meetings, and key workgroups. 

This calendar includes the following sessions:

• Prototype Demonstrations: Core Constituents review prototypes, or pre-build designs of CWS-CARES, to represent system functionality, to provide early feedback on user experience, navigation, and screen actions before the designs go into development. 
• Build Review Demonstrations: Core Constituents see some of the feedback they provided in the Prototype Demonstrations reflected in CWS-CARES and provide further feedback on the developed product. 
• Extended User Scenario Testing (EUST) 2: Participants will test end-to-end real-world scenarios in CWS-CARES.
• NEW Process Information Sessions: Designed for OCM Coordinators, these sessions outline new processes in CWS-CARES and their impact on staff workflows, helping counties, probation departments, CDSS, and Tribes with Title IV-E Agreements update policies and procedures.

Action Required
Please share this information with those at your organization you feel should be informed. Note: This calendar is point-in-time and subject to change. The CWS-CARES project plans to deliver a sustainable, more real-time calendar solution that will be accessible to all meeting participants and leadership in late March 2025.

If you have any questions, please contact CWS_CustRel@otsi.ca.gov. 

To: Child Welfare Directors, Child Welfare Director-Alternates, Tribal Leadership, Probation Leadership, and Core Constituents CC: All CARES SPOCs and Implementation Coordinators

Child Welfare Leadership and Core Constituents,

January 15, 2025 UPDATE:  Correction: The previous version of the calendar included an RFA Prototype Demonstration on 2/10/2025. This has been removed in the updated attachment.
_____________________________________________________________________________

As part of our ongoing effort to provide you greater insight into upcoming meetings for the CWS-CARES project, please see the attached updated CWS-CARES Meeting Calendar for January – March 2025. This calendar includes all meetings hosted by the CWS-CARES project, including Core Constituent demonstrations, implementation meetings, and key workgroups. 

This calendar includes the following Core Constituent sessions:

• Prototype Demonstrations: Core constituents review prototypes, or pre-build designs of CWS-CARES, to represent system functionality, to provide early feedback on user experience, navigation, and screen actions before the designs go into development.  
• Build Review Demonstrations: Core Constituents see some of the feedback they provided in the Prototype Demonstrations reflected in CWS-CARES and provide further feedback on the developed product. 
• Extended User Scenario Testing (EUST) 2: Participants will test end-to-end real-world scenarios in CWS-CARES. A 1.5-hour EUST kickoff session is planned for the week of March 17-21, 2025, with the testing period scheduled from March 24 to April 18, 2025. 

Action Required
Please share this information with those at your organization you feel should be informed. Note: This calendar is point-in-time and subject to change. The CWS-CARES project plans to deliver a sustainable, more real-time calendar solution that will be accessible to all meeting participants and leadership in late Winter 2025.

If you have any questions, please contact CWDS Customer Relations. 

Meeting information for Regional Chairs User Group Monthly Meeting

Meeting location: Virtual
Meeting time: 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM (Fourth Wednesday every month)

CR Rep:  Customer Relations
CR Email: CWS_CustRel@otsi.ca.gov

Meeting information for Bay Area Regional User Group (BARC) 
Meeting location: Virtual 
Meeting time: 10 AM – Noon, (First Thursday every month) 

RUG Chair: Makan Borhanjoo 
Chair Email: makan.borhanjoo@ssa.sccgov.org 
Chair Phone: (408)755-7358 

RUG Chair: Willaim Dai 
Chair Email: wdai@co.sanmateo.ca.us 
Chair Phone: (650) 802-7630 

Meeting information for Southern Regional User Group (SCRUGS) 

Meeting location: Virtual 
Meeting time: 10 AM – 12:30 PM, (Third Thursday every month) 

RUG Chair: Luis Fernandez
Chair Email: Luis.Fernandez@sdcounty.ca.gov
Chair Phone: (858) 428-1518

RUG Chair: Carlos Olmeda
Chair Email: carlos.olmeda2@sdcounty.ca.gov
Chair Phone: (619) 851-4174

RUG Chair: Susanna Gonzalez
Chair Email: SusannaGonzalez@co.imperial.ca.us 
Chair Phone: (760) 791-9691

RUG Chair: Ricardo Montero
Chair Email: ricardomontero@co.imperial.ca.us 
Chair Phone: (760) 791-9716

CR Rep: Customer Relations
CR Email: CWS_CustRel@osi.ca.gov

Meeting information for Southern Regional User Group (SCRUGS) 

Meeting location: Virtual 
Meeting time: 10 AM – 12:30 PM, (Third Thursday every month) 

RUG Chair: Luis Fernandez
Chair Email: Luis.Fernandez@sdcounty.ca.gov
Chair Phone: (858) 428-1518

RUG Chair: Carlos Olmeda
Chair Email: carlos.olmeda2@sdcounty.ca.gov
Chair Phone: (619) 851-4174

RUG Chair: Susanna Gonzalez
Chair Email: SusannaGonzalez@co.imperial.ca.us 
Chair Phone: (760) 791-9691

RUG Chair: Ricardo Montero
Chair Email: ricardomontero@co.imperial.ca.us 
Chair Phone: (760) 791-9716

CR Rep: Customer Relations
CR Email: CWS_CustRel@osi.ca.gov

Meeting information for Central Valley Regional User Group (CVRUG) 

Meeting location: Virtual 
Meeting time: 10 am – Noon, (Fourth Friday every month) 

RUG Chair: Matt Calvillo 
Chair Email: mcalvillo@fresnocountyca.gov 
Chair Phone: (559) 600-2205 

Meeting information for Northern Regional User Group (NRUG) 

Meeting location: Virtual 
Meeting time: 10 AM – Noon, (Fourth Tuesday every month) 

RUG Chair: Vincent Cavalleri
Chair Email: vcavalleri@co.shasta.ca.us  
Chair Phone: (530) 229-8072 

CR Rep: Customer Relations
CR Email: CWS_CustRel@osi.ca.gov