Frequently Asked Questions
State Reporting Systems
Q: During the cutover , or "dark", period, will counties still have access to SafeMeasures?
A: Yes, SafeMeasures will remain available, though it only updates every 24 hours, so information will be as current as the last update.
Q: Will Production Simulation be canceled if the project does not receive federal approval?
A: The State intends to utilize state funds in order to proceed with Production Simulation and is not dependent on federal approval.
Q: Counties have reported errors when working in the CARES 102 environment. What is the status of CARES 100 and CARES 102?
A: Both CWS-CARES 100 and CWS-CARES 102 continue to be actively used for forms and other development activities. If specific issues are encountered, counties should report them to the Forms team so they can be investigated promptly.
Q: Will the State stop requiring counties to submit certain quarterly or annual reports once the State has direct access to the data in CWS-CARES?
A: This will be a CDSS decision made program by program, once CDSS can validate that the data needed is being consistently entered into CWS-CARES.
Q: Is there an anticipated timeline for when the state will take over costs related to SafeMeasures?
A: The State expects to take over county costs associated with SafeMeasures starting on July 1, 2028. Counties must continue to submit an Advance Planning Document (APD) to the California Department of Social Services prior to executing, renewing, or amending the agreement or paying for associated services. Please see External Systems Monthly Meeting May 2026 Questions and Answers County Fiscal Letter 23/24-12 for APD submission requirements and details as counties will be responsible for the existing contract and access until June 30, 2028. Please refer to The Future of SafeMeasures and Structured Decision Making (SDM) Assessments with CWS-CARES for more information.
Q: Is SafeMeasures an interface? If not, is it categorized as state reporting?
A: No, SafeMeasures is not an interface. SafeMeasures is categorized as a State Reporting System. For more information, please refer to the CWS-CARES and Data Exchange Fact Sheet.
Q: What are the requirements from the State for entering Child Abuse Central Index (CACI) information and uploading CACI documents in CWS-CARES? Would CWS-CARES need to hold all of the "administrative record," or just those available in CWS-CARES currently, request and notices.
A: Regarding State requirements for entering Child Abuse Central Index (CACI) information in CWS-CARES, there are no requirements from the State for entering that information. In CWS/CMS, there is currently an ID page that includes fields for entering this information if a disposition is changed to a grievance. CWS-CARES will also include these fields.
Q: Can there be an additional outcome option such as “amended”? Scenario example: A perpetrator had two allegations substantiated. The perpetrator grieved the results and one substantiated was modified to inconclusive/unfounded, while the other substantiated allegation was sustained. How would this split result be documented within the Internal Review section of CACI if there is no amended option?
A: For a list of definitions on outcome results, these definitions are county specific, so there isn’t a standardized list from the Project. Options for what will be included in this field within CWS-CARES are currently under review and will be shared in future communications. If there is a split result in CWS-CARES, each allegation will be able to have that individual record updated with the values in CWS-CARES and reflect any changes to the allegation conclusion.
Q: For context, the Project has stated that CWS-CARES will no longer utilize CWS User IDs. CWS-CARES V1 provides access to Structured Decision Making (SDM) and Safe Measures applications within the application; however, V1 does not completely decommission those applications, so County Admins will still be required to Add/Modify/Terminate SDM and Safe Measures user accounts within those specific applications. Currently, SDM and Safe Measures require a CWS User ID to set up a user account in both applications. The question is: Will both of those applications (SDM/Safe Measures) be modified prior to the 10/2026 go-live so that the CWS User ID is no longer required for user accounts? Also, will County Admins still access SDM and Safe Measures externally for account management functions, or will we utilize the links within the CWS-CARES app? Regarding accounts being end-dated after 90 days of inactivity, will their account just need a password reset that the employee can initiate? And lastly, will their account be end-dated or frozen? If their account is end-dated, will a new account need to be established for that employee?
A: SDM/SafeMeasures will use user’s email address for access to these systems. We haven’t tested how admin or users will need to interact with SDM or SafeMeasures outside of CWS-CARES. The Project will provide an update to the counties after the functionality has been tested.
Regarding accounts being end-dated after 90 days of inactivity, users will need to contact County Admin to reenable account.
Accounts will not be enabled in Okta. Users will need to contact County Admin to reenable account. Data in CWS-CARES associated to the user will remain the same. The user’s supervisor is responsible for units of work associated to the user if account is disabled. Note: The account is only inactive not end dated. We only end date accounts when we are truly terminating access (fired, quit, retired, etc.).
Q: Regarding the announcement of Structured Decision Making (SDM) & Safe Measures integration, why are counties asked to continue to pay to maintain their Evident Change contract until June 2028, if SDM & Safe Measures will be integrated in CARES V1 by Oct 2026.
A: SafeMeasures will not be integrated in CWS-CARES Version 1.
While not originally planned, due to county feedback on the importance of these tools, we adjusted the scope and reallocated resources so that SafeMeasures and SDM® will be integrated into CWS-CARES over time. SDM assessments will be seamlessly integrated into the CWS-CARES platform via single sign-on with CWS-CARES Version 1 in October 2026. The CWS-CARES Project is currently planning the SafeMeasures integration. SafeMeasures will continue to be accessible using the existing login credentials and will be updated to use the CWS-CARES data model. Counties will use the current SafeMeasures web-based application until integration with CWS-CARES via single sign-on is complete. Ultimately, SafeMeasures and SDM tools will be embedded into CWS-CARES.
Counties will cover their Evident Change contract costs until CWS-CARES is fully operational in June 2028. The state will assume the costs of SafeMeasures starting July 1, 2028.