Frequently Asked Questions
Features & Functionality
Q: What is the purpose of the 'age group' section?
A: The age group is available to identify what ages a worker might be best suited to work with, it is not a required field.
Q: What type of information should be entered in the 'Additional Information' field on the CWS-CARES Person Profile screen?
A: The 'Additional Information' field allows workers to enter any relevant information they consider pertinent. This field is intentionally open-ended to accommodate individual county practice.
Q: Is the Foster Care Eligibility Determination (FCED) Interface sending information from CWS-CARES into CalSAWS, or just from CalSAWS into CWS-CARES?
A: In general, this interface is bidirectional, meaning information will be flowing both ways. CWS-CARES will send certain information to CalSAWS, and CalSAWS will send certain information to CWS-CARES. For Assistance Payments specifically, the flow of information is strictly from CalSAWS to CWS-CARES.
Q: What if there are two or more allegations at screening?
A: Multiple allegations can be added to an individual screening for each alleged victim. There can also be additional allegations added during the Investigative phase.
Q: Will Enhanced Case Management the referenced form somehow be addressed/supported in CWS-CARES?
A: Version 1 of CWS-CARES will support existing functionality in CWS/CMS. New legislative mandates will be addressed in CWS-CARES version 2 and beyond.
Q: Will an assignment desk be automatically assigned to an office?
A: The Assignment desk is an optional field and is not automatically assigned.
Q: How does the Expected End Date field on the AD 4320 form auto-populate, and does it change if the form is completed to extend benefits?
A: The AD 4320 Expected End Date does auto-populate to the child's 18th birthday. AD 4320s that are completed to extend benefits would auto-pop to the child's 21st birthday.
Q: Which RM Directory Types will counties be responsible for maintaining, versus those maintained by Child Welfare Digital Services (CWDS), California Department of Social Services (CDSS), or Community Care Licensing (CCL)?
A: Counties will maintain records for service providers, law enforcement agencies, county superior courts, district attorney offices, county offices, and adoption agencies, with much of this information being converted from CWS/CMS. The California Department of Education (CDE) will maintain education provider records, the Department of Developmental Services (DDS) will maintain information for regional centers, and Community Care Licensing (CCL) will maintain records for licensed facilities such as FFAs, STRTPs, and TTHPs.
Q: Will the system time stamp work completed in the system that supervisors can review?
A: CWS-CARES V1 will include a repository of completed work, with date and time of completion. CWS-CARES V1 will also support supervisor review and approval workflows. The CWS-CARES Data Infrastructure (CDI) will record all data changes (create, update, and delete transactions) to support supervision, auditing, and analytics.
Q: Will resource entries be able to be entered by each county before the launch of CWS-CARES in October (so that workers and staff are not all at once entering this data upon launch)? Will the records for Tribes come over via data conversion from CWS/CMS, and are those records to be maintained at the county level as well? And what about Tribes that are not federally recognized?
A: CWS-CARES has an interface with CCL, CDE, and DDS. Tribe information will come pre-loaded from the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). Current data in CWS/CMS will be converted into CWS-CARES to help mitigate a large amount of data entry. The information will be maintained at the state level. Data conversion will be facilitated for these organizations and they are not expected to start fresh; there will be a starting point that organizations can maintain and update as time goes on. For tribes that are not federally recognized, we will have those state-recognized tribes come into CWS-CARES as well. That is an additional list we are tracking. If there are tribes that need to be added, the State will be able to do that.