Frequently Asked Questions
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: 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 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.
Q: Is the process for adding a New Agency in CWS-CARES the same as adding a New Office?
A: Yes, while the video demonstration shows the user selecting “Law Enforcement Agency” for the Organization Type, this is essentially demonstrating how a user would add a new office.
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: 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: 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 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: 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.