Frequently Asked Questions
Process Information Session (PIS)
Q: When will counties be able to see the Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA) Provider Portal demonstrated?
A: The demonstrations provided by the CWS-CARES Product Team will be posted to this webpage: CWS-CARES Demos | Child Welfare Digital Services
- An additional demo was scheduled for 2/23/26 from 3-5pm PST.
- A final, end-to-end FFPSA demo is in process with CWS-CARES and will be scheduled for early March.
Q: Is Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA) something new, or is it replacing an existing program?
A: FFPSA is a federal program that is new for California. Please refer to the CDSS website for more detailed information about the program and its rollout at the programmatic level.
Q: Since cases will remain with the same worker but the worker is having their office/unit changed, is there a way to update the worker's profile to show a change in the office/unit?
A: There would be three steps to this process:
- Step 1: Create a new Unit Staff relationship in the Unit/Office that the worker will be moving to. This will allow the worker to be a part of that structure.
- Step 2: Navigate to the Caseload and update the Office, Unit and Staff Name fields to match that of the new relationship that has been created in Step 1. You do not need to use the Caseload Summary screen or Bulk Assignment for this. You can simply reassign the Caseload.
- Step 3: Navigate to the old Unit Staff relationship and mark it as “inactive” and add a reason.
Q: Will Rate Tables be added by CWS-CARES or will each county need to enter them manually?
A: The State will be responsible for entering and maintaining the Rate Tables in CWS-CARES. Counties will be able to view those rates to guide them when completing eligibility requests.
The Rate Tables in CWS-CARES are not directly connected to the Assistance Payments received by CalSAWS. That is, we aren't using the CWS-CARES Rate Tables to send Rate info to CalSAWS.