Frequently Asked Questions
Implementation Readiness Meetings
Q: Will CWS CARES include functionality to document and track Supplemental Security Income (SSI)/State Supplementary Payment (SSP) eligibility and case management requirements for youth receiving Social Security benefits, and provide reporting capabilities to ensure we are meeting legal criteria?
A: For CWS-CARES V1, the worker will be able to document a screening for Supplemental Security Income (SSI)/State Supplementary Payment (SSP) benefits. They will also be able to upload any document to a case record such to support eligibility and tracking of youth who have social security benefits. As the Project and the counties identify additional guidance and practices, CWS-CARES will expand functionality to meet additional needs in CWS-CARES Version 2 and any subsequent releases. Thank you for your advocacy, please do not hesitate to continue doing so going forward.
Q: Will training for this count towards required training hours?
A: Yes, training will count towards the required 20 hours.
Q: Can the project provide a list for each survey, indicating: what is the purpose/content of the survey and who is the target audience?
A: Advised that the project is large and they may receive correspondence from multiple project groups. We will do our best to inform ahead of time when we are aware of any surveys being distributed. - In addition, the project is tracking communications through the Strategic Communications group to help keep everyone informed. The CARES Compass published every other month will list all planned communications for the upcoming 2 months.
Q: What is the correct name to reference this project. We've seen CARES V1, CARES, CWS-CARES?
A: CWS-CARES (Child Welfare Service - California Automated Response and Engagement System) is the official system name, often shortened to CWS-CARES. CWS-CARES V1 refers to the first version of CWS-CARES expected to be released in October 2026.
Q: Are there any plans for a visitation module in CWS-CARES?
A: Yes, visitation will be included in CWS-CARES. We are planning the ability to document data related to visits attended, cancelled, and rescheduled. We are also including the ability to document a visitation quality rating based upon the SDM definitions of visitation quality. Scheduling visits will not be part of CWS-CARES in this first version. However, we will include the ability to document and track efforts to schedule visitation.
Q: Will go/no-go decisions be made on a county-by-county basis or statewide using county-specific information?
A: Implementation Leads (ILs) will work with each county to complete readiness activities over the implementation period. Progress on readiness activities will be reported regularly to the state. Any overdue activities will be evaluated and may be raised as a risk. The state will use county-level readiness progress to inform a single statewide go/no-go decision.
Q: Is there going to be any capacity for CWS-CARES to line to any phone systems (i.e., will CARES interface with phone lines)?
A: No. This is not in the scope of CWS-CARES V1 or V2.
Q: Will Folio continue to use the Mother’s name for the referral (Screening Name), and then switch to the individual focus child’s name for the Case after the Investigation?
A: The current process is to use the Mother's name for the referral. In CWS-CARES, this is referred to as "Screening Name" and is populated based on county process. Following the Investigation the Case is based on the individual focus child.
Q: In the screening module, can you indicate if the referral for abuse is evaluated out?
A: Yes, Evaluate Out is one of the Response Types in the Screening flow.
Q: Will CWS-CARES automatically filter out bad data before it transfers it to CWS-CARES?
A: CWS-CARES will have data validation rules to identify incorrectly entered information. For example, emails have to follow a standard format. So it would not accept "name@" as a complete email and would give the user an error. Similar rules apply to other fields like SSN, phone number, etc.