A: The project will continue to support the current Dedicated and Co-existent models with CARES to avoid any disruption to counties. The project will continue to review and document the impact of both models, and any new information will be shared as it becomes available.

A: Counties will determine which of their external systems are in scope for decommission based on how they will interact with CWS-CARES. Counties will work with the CWS-CARES Project to develop a decommission plan (agreements, requirements, contract management, timeline).

A: External systems (a tool or technology used to deliver child welfare services in addition to, or outside of, the legacy CWS/CMS solution) will be addressed in the following ways during the move to CWS-CARES: 

• Select prioritized external systems will have data converted into CWS-CARES.
• Focus on external systems related to Resource Family Approval (RFA), Placement including Family Finding, and Prevention Services. 
• Continuing Operations of external systems.
• Counties and the CWS-CARES Project will work together on a strategy for continuing operations. 
• Includes Counties identifying data dependencies between existing systems, planning/updating systems to ensure business continuity after CWS-CARES go live and updating to-be process maps. 
• Decommission of external systems.
• Counties will determine which of their external systems are in scope for decommission based on how they will interact with CWS-CARES (example: functionality to CWS-CARES). 

A: Upon go-live in October 2026, CWS/CMS will be a read-only system until its decommissioning. There will be a stabilization period of at least six months after Child Welfare Services-California Automated Response and Engagement System (CWS-CARES) go-live.