Product Release

CARES-Live 2.8.35 Production Release

January 27, 2026 Communications

All SPOCs and Technical Contacts:

Effective January 29, 2026, CARES-Live 2.8.35 Release is Scheduled to Move into Production

The CARES-Live team has scheduled release activity that will interrupt connectivity to the CARES-Live application. The release activity will begin at 5:00 PM on Thursday, January 29, 2026, and conclude on Friday, January 30, 2026, at 4:00 AM. During this release, the CARES-Live team will focus on application changes.

Users will not be able to access the CARES-Live application during this scheduled outage.

CARES-Live 2.8.35:

  • This release addresses security findings and other infrastructure updates and security patches not visible to CARES-Live users. 

Action Required

If users experience any issues with the CWS-CARES, please follow your county process for reporting issues. CWS-CARES County Administrators may contact the CARES Service Desk through the CWDS ServiceNow Customer Support Management (CSM) Portal. Alternate methods are phoning 1-855-292-3444 or via email at Servicedesk@cwds.ca.gov during normal business hours. You may also email after hours, and a Service Desk representative will contact you the next business day.

Product Release, CARES-Live

CARES-Live 2.8.33 Production Release - March 27, 2025 | 6 PM - 9 PM

March 21, 2025 Communications
All SPOCs and Technical Contacts:

Effective March 27, 2025, CARES-Live 2.8.33 Release is Scheduled to Move into Production
The CARES-Live team has scheduled release activity that will interrupt connectivity to the CARES-Live application. The release activity will begin at 6:00 PM on Thursday, March 27, 2025, and conclude at 9:00 PM. During this release, the CARES-Live team will focus on application changes, and users will not be able to access the CARES-Live application during this scheduled outage.
Users will not be able to access the CARES-Live application during this scheduled outage.

CARES-Live 2.8.33:
  • This release addresses security findings and Java upgrades and other infrastructure updates and security patches not visible to CARES-Live users. 
Action Required
If users experience any issues with CARES-Live, please follow your county process for reporting issues. CARES-Live County Administrators may contact the CARES Service Desk through the CWDS ServiceNow Customer Support Management (CSM) Portal. Alternate methods are phoning 1-855-292-3444 or via email at Servicedesk@cwds.ca.gov during normal business hours. You may also email after hours and a Service Desk representative will contact you the next business day.
Product Release, Maintenance, Outage, CARES-Live

CWS/CMS: Remote County Testing - Release 9.6 Improved CWS/CMS Data Quality in Preparation for Import to CARES, Phase 3

December 16, 2024 Communications
All SPOCs and Training Contacts:
The Child Welfare Digital Services (CWDS) Office is requesting county staff to participate in the Release 9.6 County Test Workshop (CTW). Registered testers will participate in the testing of Release 9.6 Data Quality SCRs, which is scheduled for delivery to the Counties on May 17, 2025.
The CTW for Release 9.6 will be conducted in a remote setting via Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) workstations.
The deadline to register is Thursday, January 9, 2025
System Change Requests (SCRs) included in this release are:
  • SCR 8982 - Add Missing Name for Placement Homes for CARES
  • SCR 8983 - Add Missing Name for Non-Foster Care Facilities for CARES
  • SCR 8999 - Update Client Dates out-of-range for CARES
  • SCR 8985 - Make Name Mandatory for Non-Foster Care Facility
  • SCR 8989 - Cleanup Outdated Home Studies
  • SCR 8843 - Transfer Enrollment between DOE Schools
  • SCR 8967 - Duplicate Hearing Notebook Warning
  • SCR 8972 - ACL 22-95 ICWA Eligibility Data Entry Mandatory Fields (Part B)
  • SCR 8943 - Expand Merge History Log
  • SCR 9020 - R9.6 Training Tools Package
Counties are encouraged to register individuals with knowledge and experience working in the areas mentioned above. A mix of end users with casework or supervisory experience will also be beneficial. Participants will validate the changes in the release and will perform tests of problem fixes and enhancements. Participants will work with other County and State testers and vendor support staff.

Remote CTW sessions will take place in the morning from 9:00AM - 12:00PM and again in the afternoon from 1:00PM – 4:00PM on the following dates: 

R9.6 Data Quality SCRs in the VB6 Environment
CWDS is seeking a total of fifteen (15) County staff members for each of the following twelve (12) sessions (2 sessions per day):
Tuesday, February 4, 2025 (AM or PM session)
Wednesday, February 5, 2025 (AM or PM session)
Thursday, February 6, 2025 (AM or PM session)
Tuesday, February 11, 2025 (AM or PM session)
Wednesday, February 12, 2025 (AM or PM session)
Thursday, February 13, 2025 (AM or PM session)

R9.6 Data Quality SCRs in C# Environment
CWDS is seeking fifteen (15) County staff members for each of the C# fourteen (14) sessions (2 sessions per day).
Tuesday, April 1, 2025 (AM or PM session)
Wednesday, April 2, 2025 (AM or PM session)
Thursday, April 3, 2025 (AM or PM session)
Monday, April 7, 2025 (AM or PM session)
Tuesday, April 8, 2025 (AM or PM session)
Wednesday, April 9, 2025 (AM or PM session)
Thursday, April 10, 2025 (AM or PM session)

Participants are welcome to register for any of the sessions listed above in half or whole-day increments.

We encourage you to submit your request for a specific session as soon as possible, but no later than 5:00 PM on January 9, 2025. If a session’s count exceeds the maximum count, Customer Relations will work with that tester to be rescheduled for another session. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

A Release 9.6 CTW Online Registration Form (see link below) for each potential tester must be received as soon as possible but no later than 5:00 PM on January 9, 2025, so the CWDS office can finalize the needed arrangements.

 Link:     https://forms.gle/cBBQdesgqUYpc5eA6

The CWDS Office will work with the registered testers on all the details of their CTW participation.  

Special Note: The County data will be pulled from the Production environment and copied to the CTW environment at the close of business on Tuesday, January 14, 2025. Therefore, changes to your Production environment after this date will not be in the CTW environment.

If you cannot access the Online Registration Form or have any questions regarding this recruitment, please contact CWS_CustRel@osi.ca.gov.

Your continued support of CWDS is greatly appreciated. 

Action Required
Submit a Release 9.6 County Test Workshop Online Registration Form no later than 5:00 PM on January 9, 2025.
Training, Product Release, CWS/CMS, Testing

CWS-CARES Release 0.15 Production Release

December 02, 2024 Communications
All SPOCs and Technical Contacts:

EFFECTIVE December 16, 2024, CWS-CARES RELEASE 0.15 PRODUCTION RELEASE IS PLANNED TO MOVE INTO PRODUCTION

The CWS-CARES team has scheduled release activity that will interrupt connectivity to the CWS-CARES Resource Family Approval (RFA) Application Submission, Review, and Approval Process for pilot counties Contra Costa, Fresno, Placer, and Santa Clara. The release activity is planned to begin at 5:00 PM on December 16, 2024, and conclude at 11:00 PM. During this scheduled outage, users in pilot counties will not be able to access the CARES RFA application.

CWS-CARES Release 0.15:
The purpose of this release is to primarily deliver fixes for known issues, enhancements to behind-the-scenes functionality and security improvements to CWS-CARES Resource Family Approval (RFA) Application Submission, Review, and Approval Process.
CWDS is excited to share the new RFA features that are planned to be available following the implementation of CWS-CARES Release 0.15 on December 16, 2024, to the CARES-RFA Pilot County users. These new features are derived from user feedback as well as project planned enhancements.
As a resource to pilot counties, over the next few weeks, your organization can expect to receive information regarding a Webinar along with an updated Participant and Quick Reference Guide. These resources will provide the system users with details of the features/functionality that have been added since the last production release. 

RFA Application Process:
The RFA Application process is the Receipt, Record, Submission, and Assignment of an Application. The RFA Application process was selected as the first software build for CARES. CARES will ultimately replace the legacy Child Welfare System CWS/CMS. The RFA Application Process will operate in a totally new Production Environment without integrating with other legacy systems, such as the CWS/CMS and CARES-Live applications.

RFA Application Process Features:
  • Allows an applicant or County staff member to initiate an emergency or standard application to become a resource family home
  • Creates a facility profile that tracks required information to complete this process, including background check results, completion of orientation and training hours, physical home assessment, and family evaluation
  • Aggregates information into a report to recommend approval or disapproval of a resource family application
Action Required
RFA Pilot County users review new features in the CWS-CARES Production Environment after December 17, 2024.
All Release Notes, including information for this release once available, can be found here: RFA Application Process Release Notes and Interim Processes
Product Release, Announcement, CARES, CWS-CARES