CWS-CARES Public Library
The CWS-CARES Public Library is a searchable repository of project information. The articles published here may also be located in the CARES Explorer Newsletters. If you have any questions, please contact CWDS Communications.
Teams and Roles
Organizational Change Management (OCM) Engagement Survey – September 2024
Purpose
The purpose of this Survey was to gauge the level of preparedness for change at Organizations on behalf of representatives involved with the project and understand their perception of CWS-CARES at this stage in the project.
Timing
The survey launched September 2nd and closed September 30th, 2024. Note that the Survey’s window from September 2nd to 30th coincided with prototype demonstrations beginning September 19th, so several recipients had not yet participated in product demonstrations.
Format
15 questions were grouped into the following dimensions: Demographics; Compelling Purpose; Product; Stakeholder Engagement; Training and Support; Communications; and Preparation for Change.
Responses
The Survey’s overall response rate was 120 out of 200 (60%). 59 out of 61 (97%) Organizations participated. Nearly 60% of respondents have worked in a child welfare-related role for over 10 years, indicating a strong knowledge base for the needs of child welfare work.
Free Responses - Themes, Summary of Responses, and Mitigation Strategies
The final question of the Survey was a free response question asking respondents if there are questions or comments the project team should review. The free responses were then shared with the relevant impacted teams. These included the OCM Team, Implementation Team, Training Team, Strategic Communications Team, External Systems Workgroup, and Product-as-a-Service (PaaS) Team. All of the teams reviewed the language and suggested mitigation strategies that are either upcoming in the project roadmap or are new ideas leveraging existing material.
Summary of Findings
Aggregated results indicate that the majority of respondents agree or strongly agree with statements such as “I believe CWS-CARES will meet future program needs of child welfare work” and “I am aware of ways to provide feedback about CWS-CARES.”
Questions resulting in the highest numbers of disagree or strongly disagree responses were related to external systems (“I understand the impacts that CWS-CARES will have on my Organization's use of external systems.”) and preparation for change (“I am confident I will be able to adopt CWS-CARES with ease in the future.”).
These findings have been shared and discussed with the appropriate project teams, and mitigation strategies are being developed to address key areas that need improvement.
Originally published in the CWS-CARES Explorer.
CWS-CARES Communications Roles
The CWS-CARES Project team partners with organizations to ensure information is shared effectively. Each organization has three key communication roles for CWS-CARES that foster statewide adoption and utilization of CWS-CARES: Single Point of Contact (SPOC), Implementation Coordinator, and OCM Coordinator.
Download the CWS-CARES Communications Infographic: A guide on how to participate in and support CWS-CARES communications.It covers:
- An overview of the three main CWS-CARES communications roles (Single Point of Contact (SPOC), Implementation Coordinator, and OCM Coordinator)
- Opportunities to stay informed
Implementation Spotlight: The Role of Implementation Coordinators (ICs)
The IC works closely with a designated CWS-CARES Implementation Lead (IL) to conduct, manage, track, and report on a set of readiness activities. In addition, the IC supports their organization’s Implementation Team (which includes the Data Quality Analyst, OCM, Training, and Technical Coordinators) to understand and complete readiness activities that are being tracked on the Go-Live Readiness Checklist. The IC responsibilities include informing their leadership of the progress being made and to ensure implementation readiness activities are completed to prepare their organization and end users for CWS-CARES Go-Live.
Originally published in the CWS-CARES Explorer.
ICWA: A Voice for Tribal Governments and Native Children
The Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) is a federal law enacted in 1978 to protect the best interests of Native American children and promote the stability and security of Native American tribes and families. The ICWA establishes minimum Federal standards for the removal of Indian children, delineates the roles of State and Tribal governments in child welfare cases, establishes placement preferences for placement with family and Tribal members, and institutes protections for parents regarding the termination of parental rights. In California, ICWA provides guidance to counties, regarding the handling of child abuse and neglect and adoption cases involving Indian children and sets minimum standards for these cases, to support Indian children and families, and ensure children remain connected to their family, Tribe, and culture.
Among protections for Indian children, ICWA requires caseworkers to make several considerations when handling an ICWA case, including:
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Providing active efforts to the family;
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Identifying a placement that fits under the ICWA preferences provisions;
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Notifying the child’s tribe and the child’s parents of the child custody proceeding; and
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Working actively to involve the child’ tribe and the child’s parents in the proceedings.
ICWA ensures that tribes as sovereign nations, have a strong voice in child custody proceedings involving Indian children. Tribes have exclusive jurisdiction over cases when the child resides on the reservation, or when the child is a ward of the tribe. Tribes have concurrent jurisdiction for an ICWA case, when the child is living or domiciled off the reservation, or the Tribal court declines to take the case. In California when the county and Tribe have concurrent jurisdiction, ICWA establishes a presumption that the county must transfer jurisdiction to the Tribe, upon request.
Originally published in the CWS-CARES Explorer.California Department of Social Services (CDSS): CWS-CARES Program Sponsor Overview
The California Department of Social Services (CDSS) is the project sponsor and participates in various areas of the CARES project. Subject matter experts from Accounting, Fiscal, Legal and Program provide input and policy guidance on development activities.
The Child Welfare System Branch (CWSB) is responsible for representing the CDSS at Child Welfare Digital Services (CWDS). The branch chief wears multiple hats including sitting on the CWDS Executive Leadership Team. Five of the staff are Service Managers and work directly with the Product Delivery Team to develop functionality to support case management, external stakeholder coordination, financial management, resource family approval, resource management, reporting and metrics. Staff research child welfare regulation, statute, and county letter guidance to ensure CARES supports current child welfare policy and practice to comply with the Comprehensive Child Welfare Information System (CCWIS) requirements.
The team works directly with multiple tribes to identify how CARES will support users in meeting the Indian Child Welfare Act requirements. Working directly with counties, the team identifies external or ancillary systems to ensure business operations will not be impacted when CARES goes live. The team also provides fiscal oversight to the CARES project and conducts biennial data quality reviews as required by CCWIS. Originally published in the CWS-CARES Explorer.
CWS-CARES Inquiry Overview: What Happens When You Submit a Question?
If you have a question:
1. Email the Implementation Team or Customer Relations Team.
2. Raise a question in other project meetings.
3. If a question cannot be answered in these forums, there is a good chance it will make its way to the Inquiry Response Team (IRT).
After a question is submitted: The IRT Lead reviews our repository of previous questions to ensure the question hasn’t already been answered. If not, the lead records the new question and works with subject matter experts (SMEs) to draft a response and then reviews it with the IRT team. The team decides if the response requires executive approval, if it should be posted as an FAQ to the CWDS website, or if any further clarification is needed. Lastly, the IRT lead finalizes any edits, takes record of the response, and works with the original team that received the question to respond. CWS-CARES values your questions and appreciates your patience while we draft responses.
Originally published in the CWS-CARES Explorer.
Navigating Change Together: Support and Collaboration Across the Regions
Organizational Change Management (OCM) Coordinators
Each county has a designated Organizational Change Management (OCM) Coordinator that supports their county by:
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Sharing information about CARES with their teams.
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Tailoring communications and other CARES work products to be relevant to their county's individual needs.
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Strengthening feedback loops within their organization and providing insight about their team's experience throughout this transition.
In spring 2024, OCM Coordinators and other representatives from each county were invited to attend a two-day OCM Training to equip them with the tools and skills needed to support their teams.
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Agenda: Training participants learned basic principles of OCM, discussed common challenges that arise during change, and identified strategies for addressing challenges.
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Knowledge sharing: The training sessions provided an opportunity for participants from different counties to share their experiences with change and exchange lessons learned and best practices.
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Resources: Participants also received a toolkit of information to help them start communicating and building awareness about CARES within their organizations.
Organizational Change Management (OCM) Advisory Workgroup Representatives
In Fall 2023, select representatives from each region were also identified by their Regional Chairs to engage in OCM through the OCM Advisory Workgroup.
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Monthly meetings give representatives the chance to provide ongoing guidance and oversight into the activities and communications developed for CARES end users and other stakeholders.
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Workgroup participants provide input on OCM work products and serve as an open channel of communication and feedback.
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They also help to understand and speak to ongoing change management risks and issues that may affect the end-user adoption of CARES as V1 is developed and implemented.
As the CARES project progresses, OCM Coordinators and OCM Advisory Workgroup representatives will have additional opportunities to participate in OCM activities.
Originally published in the CWS-CARES Explorer.
Implementation Spotlight: The Role of Implementation Leads (ILs)
The CARES Implementation Team is a group within the CARES project team focused on helping Counties, CDSS, Probation, and Tribes with Title IV-E agreements prepare for CARES V1 Go-Live in October 2026. The team is comprised of Implementation Leads (ILs) who are assigned to each of these organizations to serve as single point of contact for all CARES-related tasks and questions.
ILs collaborate with Implementation Coordinators (ICs) from each organization to regularly review and update the CARES V1 Go-Live Readiness Checklist. The checklist includes people, process, and technology readiness tasks organizations must complete to be ready for Go-Live.
Among the key responsibilities of the ILs is learning the new CARES V1 features and functionality so they can provide system demonstrations and answer questions about the new software prior to end user training delivery.
To stay informed about CARES V1, ILs attend product development meetings, demonstrations, and other project discussions. ILs also play an important role in routing questions received from the organizations, sharing feedback, and pulling in additional subject matter expertise as needed for the completion of readiness tasks.
ILs are of critical importance to the success of CARES V1 because they because they provide organizations the support they need to get ready for Go-Live. Additionally, they create visibility into the status and overall health of Go-Live Readiness activities between now and October 2026.
County Consultants
County Consultants are subject matter experts (SMEs) representing the interests of counties. There are currently 24 County Consultants representing 14 counties actively participating as a SME in policy, program requirements, outcome measures, and county user needs and preferences. They serve across more than a dozen project teams, such as Intake, Case Management, and Resource Management.
County Consultants are full-time, contracted project resources selected though a collaboration between counties, the County Welfare Directors Association (CWDA), the Department of Social Services (CDSS) and the Office of Technology and Solutions Integration (OTSI). They play a critical role on CWS-CARES, as they help provide the level of engagement needed on various teams while preventing the disruption of services to families and children at risk. Most of them have a broad background in Child Welfare and have years of service and experience in their Counties.
Counties represented include: Kern, Los Angeles, Madera, Monterey, Placer, Riverside, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Francisco, Stanislaus, and Yolo. CWDA also contracts with staff with previous experience in Fresno, Orange, Placer, San Luis Obispo, and Sacramento counties.
Originally published in the CWS-CARES Explorer.
The CARES V1 Training Approach
To support the learning journey from CWS/CMS to CARES, the Implementation Training team has devoted itself to creating, building, and delivering an effective training program to prepare users to complete their work processes in CARES beginning the day of Go-Live.
Early CARES training audience analysis indicated that a blended learning approach would best meet the needs and preferences of CARES users. The Training team developed the CARES training approach to reflect this preference by pairing on-demand eLearning, instructor-led training and over-the-shoulder coaching support at Go-Live and beyond. The interactive combination of self-paced eLearning with live end-user training offers a dynamic learning journey to support varied learning styles while providing flexibility across Organizations.
On-demand eLearning is the foundation of the immersive learning experience, with end-to-end CARES child welfare workflows built directly within CARES. Integrated through CARES, the small, digestible units will typically take less than 15 minutes to complete, and include hands-on simulated practice, workflows, and work-related scenarios. On-demand learning will be opened to all end-users beginning Summer 2026 as a prerequisite to live instructor-led training.
Supporting training materials for Instructor-led training include coaching from trainers and Super Users and Go-Live Command Center Support. More ILT and eLearning materials will be made editable and released to Organizations in 4 cycles leading up to Go-Live.
Originally published in the CWS-CARES Explorer.
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