A: CWS-CARES offers a robust set of document-related features including the ability to generate, upload, view, edit, download, print, redact, and merge documents. Appropriate access controls are enforced so that only the users who need to see the documents have access to them. 
 
In CWS-CARES, documents are tied/indexed to key entities such as screenings, referrals, cases, eligibility, court work items, etc. Documents tied to the key entities can be viewed by retrieving the key record first and then pulling up the documents tab to see a list of all documents tied to the record.
 
Additional context on capabilities:

• Documents are indexed and tied to specific records in CWS-CARES.

• Document indexing uses an extensible and flexible document taxonomy system that is intuitive to use and makes saving, categorizing, and retrieving documents easy.

• Document lists allow sorting by Title, Category, Type, Uploaded By, and Uploaded Date.

• Documents can be viewed and managed directly within the relevant CWS-CARES context, such as screening or a case.

A:  No, if an external system is removed from CWS-CARES V1 data conversion scope, it cannot be replaced with another candidate external system for CWS-CARES V1 data conversion due to scope and schedule constraints.

A: The CWS-CARES Tribal Governments Directory will allow for organizational information for both Federally Recognized and Non-Federally Recognized Tribes to be entered in the system. Organizational information will include Contact Information, Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Region (if applicable), CWS/CMS Tribal Number (if applicable), ability to record if the Tribe is Federally Recognized, whether the Tribe has lands in California or that extend into California, and if it has an IV-E and/or 1919 Agreement. The Directory will also capture whether the tribe provides Tribal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and the Tribal TANF Counties served. Contact person(s) for each tribe will be documented in CWS-CARES. Contact information will include name, title, and role. CWS-CARES will provide the ability to add multiple contact people per tribal organization with different associated roles. 

A: Yes, CWS-CARES will include a field for an Attorney's State Bar Number (SBN) on the attorney profile.

A: Yes, tribally approved homes will be a placement type in CWS-CARES. There won’t be a dedicated field in CWS-CARES, but there will be an indicator on the Resource Family Home (RFH) profile to identify a tribally approved home.

A: Unstructured data from External Systems is analyzed and converted similarly to structured data. If these documents/unstructured data are determined to be within the scope and are acceptable document types (such as RFA PDF/Word documents associated with an in-scope functionality in CARES), they can be processed and converted using the pre-defined external system conversion process. This is contingent upon counties providing the necessary mandatory metadata (e.g., IDs to link the document to the associated entity in CARES) for the conversion. Additional steps, such as moving documents to a predefined location, may be required, but the process is analogous to structured data conversion.

Forms/documents like Word, PDF, and Excel files are generally considered unstructured data. The term "applications" likely refers to forms or documents in progress but could also include partially structured data.

A: Yes, the user can upload documents to closed cases.

A: Counties will have a couple of ways to pull data from CWS-CARES. They will be able to create queries and reports using the CWS-CARES reporting tool, Tableau. A county can also ask the CWS-CARES Project Team to be part of the “Data Extracts” workgroup. However, counties should note that the current project efforts in this area are focused on the counties that currently get extracts from CWS/CMS. Therefore, we may not be able to include a county that’s not already a part of this group in time for V1.

A: Short answer: There is a requirement for CANS to be entered into CARES-Live. Only CANS entered CARES-Live will be converted to CWS-CARES. CANS entered in other systems will not be converted to CWS-CARES. With the policy requirement that county CANS data be entered into CARES-Live since July 1, 2021, the CWS-CARES project has not planned for additional bulk upload of CANS data from other external systems into CWS-CARES. See below for more detailed information.

A: Detailed Answer: ACL-21-27 requires that effective on or before July 1, 2021, county Child Welfare Departments statewide enter all new CANS data into CARES-Live for all children with an open child welfare case regardless of which agency completed the CANS. When CWS-CARES Version 1 (V1) goes live in October 2026 all data in CARES-Live will we be transferred into CWS-CARES and CARES-Live will be decommissioned. With the policy requirement that county CANS data be entered into CARES-Live since July 1, 2021, the CWS-CARES project has not planned for additional bulk upload of CANS data from other external systems into CWS-CARES. In preparation for data conversion into CWS-CARES we strongly recommend counties not currently in compliance with state policy to use CARES-Live create a plan to transition their business process to start entering CANS data into CARES-Live as soon as possible. The plan should also include an approach for entering all CANS data created since the policy went into effect into CARES-Live prior to October 2026 so that data will be available in CWS-CARES. Further, if external systems exist that have duplicate functions to CARES-Live they conflict with the Comprehensive Child Welfare Information System (CCWIS) federal regulations and state policy (ACL 18-47) that counties should not develop or maintain external systems that duplicate functionality contained in the state’s CCWIS application. Counties are required to decommission any ancillary system functionality that duplicates the statewide child welfare case management system.

A: The CWS-CARES project team does not currently have a recommendation. The project will be researching this functionality for consideration in CWS-CARES future scope after CWS-CARES V1 is implemented. The design and timing of this enhancement is currently unknown.