CWS-CARES Public Library

In late February, an updated CARES V1 Scope Summary was shared with counties. The goal of the Scope Summary, in combination with the CWS-CARES Data Dictionary and product demos, is to provide counties with a better picture of CARES Version 1. The Scope Summary includes a summary of each Service Area, key functionalities of each Milestone, and the Building Blocks (specific capabilities) for each Milestone. Counties are encouraged to use this resource to help assess which external systems have overlapping functionality with CWS-CARES. It will continue to be updated as CWS-CARES is developed.

The CARES V1 Scope Summary (published February 2025) covers the following Service Areas and Milestones:

• Intake & Investigations (Milestones 3, 4, 5)
• Case Management, Placement, Adoption (Milestones 6, 6.1, 7, 7.1, 8, 9, 10, 10.1, 11, 13)
• Courts (Milestones 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
• Resource Family Home – Post Approval (Milestones 26, 26.1, 27, 28)
• Resource & Provider Management (Milestones 2, 6.1, 8)
• Financial Management (Milestones 1, 23, 23.1, 23.2, 24)
• Eligibility (Milestones 19, 20, 20.1, 21)
• Reporting (Milestones 29, 30, 31)

Originally published in the CWS-CARES Explorer.

There are three Milestones that focus on reporting:​

​Federal Reports ​

Federal Reports extends and consolidates metric development completed in previous milestones to generate required Federal Extracts (e.g., National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS), Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS), Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), National Youth in Transition Database (NYTD)) and deliver interactive dashboard views of Federal Statewide Indicators and other required Federal reports, including those required to draw down Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA) funds. CWS-CARES dashboards will support pulling multiple populations as appropriate, including entry cohorts, exit cohorts, attribute- defined cohorts and point-in-time snapshots. ​

​State Reports ​

State Reports) extends and consolidates metric development completed in previous milestones to deliver interactive thematic dashboard views of both State and Federal metrics. Thematic dashboards organize process, practice (fidelity) and outcome metrics by theme, such as Prevention, Safety and Permanency. ​

​Ad-hoc Reports ​

In addition to the planned reports that will be available when CARES V1 goes live (federal and state requirements, key outcomes, and practice measures), CARES will provide data consumers with the ability to develop their own reports using Tableau. They will have access to all appropriate CARES data in close to real time, translated into the categories and terminology that are meaningful to child welfare practitioners and researchers. This will include the kinds of historical needed to perform longitudinal studies. ​

Originally published in the CWS-CARES Explorer.

Case Management involves processes to identify, provide, monitor, and evaluate the services and decisions necessary to reduce the risk of harm to the child. Activities include everything from the opening of the case, whether court-monitored or voluntary, through the closure and some aftercare services. 

Milestones Related to Case Management

CWS-CARES is organized by milestones, which break down the product functionality into manageable units. Some of the milestones that closely relate to Case Management are detailed below.

Case Management: Engagement
Case Management - Engagement equips social workers to create, assign, and transfer a case from an investigation as well as from non-investigative entry points. This milestone also expands on the creation and updating of the Person Profile, delivering additional elements related to Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), education, health, behavioral and mental health, and Regional Center data. The broader scope of information captured allows for a more robust Health and Education Passport (HEP).

Prevention Services
Prevention Services equips social workers to search a Service Provider Directory, based upon the identified needs/strengths of the child or family. The social worker will then match the child/family with services or providers.

Case Plan
Case Plan establishes Case Plan, the foundation and central unifying tool in child welfare services. The milestone equips the worker to partner with the child, family, and care team to develop, monitor, and provide services and case management to assure the child’s best interest is met through the provision of a safe environment.

Case Management: Engagement and Services
Case Management - Engagement and Services provides a range of capabilities to support and improve engagement with families in the context of an open case. Such capabilities include preparing for, conducting and documenting family visitations and convening the Child and Family Team (CFT). This milestone equips workers to clearly capture the assessment of a child’s visitation needs. It also captures visitor statistics to measure attendance, visitation quality, and new skills learned.

Placement
Placement delivers the functionality to equip workers to find a high-quality placement for a child in a timely manner. The worker can add any potential placement option to a shortlist for the child, allowing for the worker to view all placement options and their status (e.g., placement provider accepted the child) on a single screen.

Adoptions
Adoption improves monitoring of the adoption processes and activities, including document preparation and tracking for adoption finalization. Increases compliance with State rule for Termination of Parental Rights (TPR) and other adoption-related requirements. Increases visibility in the adoption process, including adoption stability, re-entry following adoption, and post-adoption services support.

Case Closure
Case Closure provides social workers with the ability to assess cases for closure, finalize and close a case, and support any other areas of practice related to the ending of a child welfare case. This ultimately equips the social worker with the best practices for family engagement in transition and aftercare planning, with the goal of helping families prepare for their exit from Child Welfare and reduce the likelihood they will need services in the future.

Aftercare & Re-entry
Aftercare & Re-entry equips the worker with a platform for intentional planning for aftercare services as a family, child, or youth approaches case closure. The structured format for capturing this planning process (i.e., CFT, case plan, family preservation, etc.) assures that those exiting child welfare case management services are doing so with services, people, and resources in place to provide ongoing support.

Originally published in the CWS-CARES Explorer.

CWS-CARES is grouped into Service Areas. A service area is a type of service offered by CWS-CARES related to child welfare program and practices. Intake is the initial entry point into Child Welfare Services and includes processes to:​

• Screen: capture Hotline requests, gather initial incident, person, and allegation information, and support decision-making to investigate or refer to preventative services or community-based connections.​

• Investigate: conduct interviews, make in-person contacts, gather records and consult/collaborate with Tribes, resources, formal and informal supports for the purpose of making a comprehensive and informed evaluation of child safety and risk. ​

• Refer: offer referrals to preventative and supportive services within the community, and/or help the client identify resources within their own network. ​

CARES V1 supports improvement of many processes and additionally seeks to mitigate numerous pain points identified by county constituents in the current system.​ 

CARES V1 standardizes processes within the parameters of state and federal policy (guidelines, regulations, codes, laws), while allowing flexibility and autonomy where appropriate for the variance in local practice culture among the 58 counties. ​

CARES V1 guides and supports staff in the steps necessary to determine the purpose for a call, redirect the call appropriately, and reduce unnecessary information gathering on families. Additional pathways at screening (beyond the documentation of a child abuse and neglect report) also assist users in documenting and redirecting the work performed at the hotline level. ​

CARES V1 provides helper text and core practice guidance, adapts screens to the type of call, decreases superfluous information gathering, and improves the integrity of the information collected.

What is SOGIE?  ​
Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and Gender Expression (SOGIE) refers to the status of any person that discloses their sexual orientation, gender identity, and/or gender expression during the screening process or while a child welfare investigation or case is open. SOGIE data collected includes sex at birth, sexual orientation, and gender identity.​ The State will improve SOGIE and race/ethnicity data collection to reflect an individuals’ identity, which in turn will assist in identifying appropriate services and support, and equitable service delivery. ​

Originally published in the CWS-CARES Explorer.