CWDS Bulletins

CARES SPOCs, Training Contacts, Implementation Coordinators, OCM Coordinators, County Leadership, Tribe Leadership, Probation Leadership, and State Leadership:

To support users preparing for CWS-CARES Version 1 Go-Live on December 7, 2026, 81 Interim Guidance Desk Guides are now available on the CWS-CARES Implementation Portal.  These guides expand on the previously shared Interim Workaround Guidance and provide instructions for temporary processes that users may need to follow until additional system functionality becomes available in future releases.

How to Use the Interim Guidance Desk Guides

The Desk Guides are organized by service area and role to help users find guidance relevant to their responsibilities.

Each Desk Guide includes:

• Effective date and applicable release information
• Impacted service areas and roles
• Instructions for completing the temporary process
• Links to related Business Process Maps and training materials
• Screenshots, where applicable

To find the guides relevant to your role, review the List of Interim Guidance Desk Guides on the CWS-CARES Implementation Portal

As future CWS-CARES releases introduce additional functionality, workarounds that are no longer needed will be retired, and their Desk Guides will be removed from the Implementation Portal. Users should refer to the portal for the most current guidance.

Coming Soon: CWS-CARES User Story Worker Process Tracker: 

The Interim Workaround Guidance identified 198 system changes and functionality items, including:

• 82 items initially identified as requiring approved workarounds, one of which has since been retired following a system update
• 116 additional items planned for future releases

A new CWS-CARES User Story Worker Process Tracker will be available soon to help users identify which have an associated Interim Guidance Desk Guide and find guidance for items without a Desk Guide.

A separate communication will be sent when the index is available.

Interim Guidance Desk Guide Training

As part of CWS-CARES Supplemental Training, sessions demonstrating how to use the Interim Guidance Desk Guides to complete temporary processes will be offered November 16-20, 2026.

Users are encouraged to register and attend.

Action Required

• Share the Interim Guidance Desk Guides with staff and identify any necessary adjustments to workflows.
• Encourage staff to register for and attend the Interim Guidance Desk Guide training sessions offered November 16–20.

Please contact Customer Relations for questions.

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Security Protocols for Prod Sim Case Data

The Prod Sim environment contains converted CWS/CMS cases reflecting actual system data as of September 20, 2026. Because this includes real, sensitive Personally Identifiable Information (PII), all case information must be strictly protected or redacted.

To protect CWS-CARES case data, please follow these important security guidelines when working with our support teams:

• Redact Ticket Info: Do not send Protected Health Information (PHI), PII, or confidential case details to the Service Desk via email or ticket. Sensitive and confidential data cannot be stored in the ticketing system.
• Secure Screen Shares: During support-requested screen shares, limit attendees to essential personnel only. Recording of sensitive information is strictly prohibited.
• Consult for Tier 3 Transfers: If Tier 3 support needs sensitive data, use secure transmission methods. Contact your county Privacy Officer or the CWDS ISO if you need assistance with secure routing.

Please contact the Customer Relations mailbox for questions.

All SPOCs and Technical Contacts in Amador, Colusa, Lassen, and Mariposa Counties:

The CWDS Infrastructure team is performing a network change on Wednesday, November 18, 2026, starting at 6:00 PM and concluding at 12:00 Midnight. The team will migrate the Orange Data Center firewall to a new Firewall-as-a-Service (FWaaS) solution.

During this maintenance window, the following counties listed below will not be able to access either the CWS/CMS application:

• Amador
• Colusa
• Lassen
• Mariposa

Users who access CWS/CMS remotely (e.g., Server Based Computing [SBC] or VPN) are not impacted during this change window.

This change will not impact access to the CWS-CARES application.

Action Required

CWS/CMS

If users experience any issues with CWS/CMS, please follow your county process for reporting issues or you may contact the IBM Boulder Help Desk at 1-800-428-8268.

CARES-Live

If users experience any issues with CARES-Live, please follow your county process for reporting issues. CARES-Live County Administrators may contact the CARES Service Desk through the CWDS ServiceNow Customer Support Management (CSM) Portal. Alternate methods are phoning 1-855-292-3444 or via email at CWDS Service Desk during normal business hours. You may also email after hours and a Service Desk representative will contact you the next business day.

CARES SPOCs, Technical Contacts, Data Quality Contacts, Implementation Coordinators, OCM Coordinators, County Leadership, Tribe Leadership, Probation Leadership, and State Leadership:

As we continue preparations for our upcoming Go-Live, we are announcing that comprehensive performance testing is scheduled to be conducted in the CWS-CARES Production Simulation (Prod Sim - CARES 100) environment on Monday, November 23, 2026, from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM.

Testers with current Prod Sim access can join and execute tasks in Prod Sim throughout the day, and no formal signups are needed to participate. CWDA is planning to coordinate with Child Welfare counties prior to November 23, 2026, to help align participation.

Performance testing will evaluate how the system performs under realistic traffic and measure how many counties can work in the system simultaneously. Because our goal is to maximize concurrent volume across different transaction types, there is no limit on the number of testers—we encourage as many participants as possible to join including counties, Probation, and tribal staff.

Participating testers may perform simulated day-to-day operational actions during the active test window which could include doing core work under concurrent high-traffic conditions, entering and updating data to measure database responsiveness, and searches to evaluate system query performance.

We sincerely appreciate all staff willing to participate in this vital readiness activity to help strengthen the stability and performance of CWS-CARES.

Action Required

Please share this with all staff impacted by this information.

Please contact Customer Relations for questions.

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Security Protocols for Prod Sim Case Data

The Prod Sim environment contains converted CWS/CMS cases reflecting actual system data as of September 20, 2026. Because this includes real, sensitive Personally Identifiable Information (PII), all case information must be strictly protected or redacted.

To protect CWS-CARES case data, please follow these important security guidelines when working with our support teams:

• Redact Ticket Info: Do not send Protected Health Information (PHI), PII, or confidential case details to the Service Desk via email or ticket. Sensitive and confidential data cannot be stored in the ticketing system.
• Secure Screen Shares: During support-requested screen shares, limit attendees to essential personnel only. Recording of sensitive information is strictly prohibited.
• Consult for Tier 3 Transfers: If Tier 3 support needs sensitive data, use secure transmission methods. Contact your county Privacy Officer or the CWDS ISO if you need assistance with secure routing.

Please contact the Customer Relations mailbox for questions.

CARES SPOCs, Training Contacts, Implementation Coordinators, OCM Coordinators, County Leadership, Tribe Leadership, Probation Leadership, and State Leadership:

Following the conclusion of CWS-CARES Instructor-Led Training (ILT) on November 20, 2026, the CWS-CARES Project will refresh the Training Environment (CARES 104) to align with the Production system and support ongoing training after Go-Live.

CARES 104 will be unavailable November 23–27, 2026 while the refresh is completed.

What to Expect During the Refresh

The refresh will result in the following changes:

• Existing training data will be deleted, including transaction data previously entered by users or loaded by the CWS-CARES Project.
• Training completion data will be deleted. An extract of Enablement Program completion data will be pulled on November 20 and shared with counties.
• Existing user permissions are expected to remain unchanged following the refresh.
• Enablement Program knowledge checks will be disabled in all environments following the conclusion of ILT.

Conducting Training After the Refresh

Once CARES 104 is available again, organizations will be able to conduct their own training using existing ILT materials. Organizations will need to manually create new training cases, as previously loaded training data will no longer be available.

To support this process, the Training Team will provide instructions for:

• ILT Courses: Creating cases needed to deliver training using existing ILT materials.
• Additional Training Activities: Creating generic Child Welfare and Non-Investigative cases for training outside the ILT curriculum

These case creation instructions will be published on the CWS-CARES Implementation Portal and shared with Organization Training Coordinators before CARES 104 is available again on November 30, 2026.

Organizations may need additional preparation time to create these training cases as part of planned training activities.

Action Required

Share this update with staff who use CARES 104.

Please contact Customer Relations for questions.

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Security Protocols for Prod Sim Case Data

The Prod Sim environment contains converted CWS/CMS cases reflecting actual system data as of September 20, 2026. Because this includes real, sensitive Personally Identifiable Information (PII), all case information must be strictly protected or redacted.

To protect CWS-CARES case data, please follow these important security guidelines when working with our support teams:

• Redact Ticket Info: Do not send Protected Health Information (PHI), PII, or confidential case details to the Service Desk via email or ticket. Sensitive and confidential data cannot be stored in the ticketing system.
• Secure Screen Shares: During support-requested screen shares, limit attendees to essential personnel only. Recording of sensitive information is strictly prohibited.
• Consult for Tier 3 Transfers: If Tier 3 support needs sensitive data, use secure transmission methods. Contact your county Privacy Officer or the CWDS ISO if you need assistance with secure routing.

Please contact the Customer Relations mailbox for questions.

ALL SPOCs, Technical Contacts and CAD Contacts:

The California Department of Technology (CDT) has scheduled monthly Microsoft security patching. The patching begins on Friday, December 11, 2026, at 6:00 PM and concludes on Saturday, December 12, 2026, at 1:00 AM. The activity may cause interruptions to the Business Objects (BO) servers within the patching window. The expected impact to users is low; however, there is a potential to cause some BO reports to fail to send, or automated scripts may fail to retrieve.
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Service Desk Bulletin
Subject: Windows Monthly Patching
Reference Number:	CHG0083241
Event Date/Time:	Friday, 12/11/2026 @ 06:00 PM
Start Date/Time:	Friday, 12/11/2026 @ 06:00 PM
End Date/Time:	Saturday, 12/12/2026 @ 01:00 AM
Summary: CDT will perform monthly Microsoft security patching and preventative maintenance on all Windows servers hosted at the Gold Camp and Vacaville campuses.  During this time, all Windows servers will be rebooted. Please note that this activity occurs within the Preventative Maintenance and Patching Schedules | CDT Services (ca.gov).
Who is Affected: All customers using Windows Hosting Managed Services.
What to Expect: Windows servers will reboot.
If you have questions or comments regarding this bulletin, please contact the 24/7 Department of Technology Service Desk at (916) 464-4311 or ServiceDesk@state.ca.gov.

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Action Required

Review scheduled BO reports and reschedule report jobs to avoid the scheduled maintenance window. Rerun the missed report jobs, if necessary.

Contact the IBM Help Desk (800-428-8268) to report any issues with your Business Objects content.

CARES SPOCs, Implementation Coordinators, OCM Coordinators, County Leadership, Tribe Leadership, Probation Leadership, and State Leadership:

Production Simulation

UPDATE: Production Simulation Support Clinic – Adoptions 

The Production Simulation (Prod Sim) Tier 2 Support Team will host one Support Clinic on the topic of Adoptions on Thursday, November 12, 2026 (11/12). 

Update: The start time for this Support Clinic has been adjusted to 10:30 am. The Support Clinic will now run from 10:30 am – 12:00 pm.

Intended Audience: Active Prod Sim participants who interact with Adoptions.

Purpose: To provide a “click by click” walk through of adoption case creation through closure.

How to Attend and Review Past Sessions: For dial in information and to review previous recordings, please refer to the Production Simulation Hub. Users may have to create a log-in to access materials.

Notes: This session will focus on Adoptions and will not include a walkthrough of case management functionality conducted outside of the adoption case such as opening the child welfare case, documenting court information, plans, contact logs, and placement.

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In this Weekly Digest:

• General 
  • CWDS Website: New County Resources Hub, Cutover Planning Guides, Welcome Page Updates
  • CWDS is Observing Veterans Day on November 11, 2026
  • System Updates & Release Notes on the Production Simulation Hub
  • Reminder: Nine (9) Days Left to Register for Final Stakeholder Briefing Before CWS-CARES Go-Live
  • New Fact Sheet: Case Documentation and Court-Related Functionality
• CWS-CARES Cutover
  • Action Required: CWS-CARES Cutover Notice #1 – Legacy System Read-Only Window & Downtime Procedures – 11/3/2026
  • CWS-CARES Weekly Production Login Statistics – 11/4/2026
• Production Simulation
  • CWS-CARES Production Simulation Challenge #2
  • Production Simulation Support Clinic – Adoptions
  • Action Needed: Create Your User Account for the New SafeMeasures®
  • Complete Your SDM® Assessments Before CWS-CARES Go-Live
• Implementation 
  • OCM Resources Update
• Training
  • New Training Videos Now Available!
  • Reminder: Register for Topic-Specific Training Demonstrations
• CWS-CARES Functionality 
  • CWS-CARES FAQ Spotlight: November 9, 2026

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General 

CWDS Website: County Resources Hub, Cutover Planning Guides, Welcome Page Updates 

COMING SOON: CWS-CARES Hub 

The CWS-CARES Hub is an online repository of county resources for continued operations (COOP) to support users during cutover to CARES Version 1.

The Hub will be accessible by the end of 11/9 through the CWDS Portals page and on the CWDS Welcome Page.

Coming Soon on the CWS-CARES Hub

We will soon release a suite of CWS-CARES cutover readiness materials and documentation shared by counties on the newly launched CWS-CARES Hub. Key resources include the County COOP Planning Guide, the CWS-CARES Go-Live Readiness Executive Overview, and a new peer-sharing section featuring sample planning documents contributed by Fresno, Sacramento, and Los Angeles counties.

Please note that these materials represent point-in-time planning snapshots and will be updated regularly as cutover preparations advance. Counties are encouraged to review these optional references, tailor them to local operational and legal considerations, and submit any additional files to Customer Relations for sharing.

The CWS-CARES Hub can be accessed through the CWDS Portals page and on the CWDS Welcome Page.

UPDATED: CWDS Welcome Page

The CWDS Team is happy to share that the CWDS Welcome Page has been refreshed!

The new Welcome Page spotlights the upcoming CWS-CARES Go-Live on December 7, 2026 – including a timer counting down to Go-Live – and several useful links for quick access to some of the most popular user resources.

To see the new page, please visit the CWDS Welcome Page.

CWDS is Observing Veterans Day on November 11, 2026

CWDS will observe the Veterans Day holiday on Wednesday, November 11, 2026. Please anticipate a delay in communications and plan accordingly.

We thank all veterans for their service and sacrifice.

System Updates & Release Notes on the Production Simulation Hub 

Every Monday, the CWS-CARES Project publishes new System Updates and Release Notes on the CWS-CARES Production Simulation Hub on the CWDS website. All published updates are located on the System Updates & Release Notes tab in the left navigation bar. Below is a summary of the most recent release.

CWS CARES Weekly Release Summary: November 2, 2026

The November 2 release delivered a range of corrections and improvements across the CWS‑CARES system:

• 95 defect fixes improving reliability, accuracy, and user experience across case management, resource management, intake and investigation, and courts.
• Multiple ServiceNow incidents resolved across 17 counties and CDSS.
• High‑level updates improving Structured Decision Making (SDM) integration, CalSAWS integration, person search capabilities, approval notifications, and other core system workflows.
• 40 data conversion fixes addressing case records, person records, contact logs, eligibility data, provider information, search functionality, and other converted data elements.
• 5 county‑reported data issues resolved from Fresno, San Luis Obispo, and El Dorado.

Full details for this release are available on the CWS‑CARES Production Simulation Hub.

Upcoming Release Information

System Updates & Release Notes will continue to be published every Monday. The November 9 System Updates & Release Notes will appear on the CWS-CARES Production Simulation Hub once it is officially posted.

Reminder: Nine (9) Days Left to Register for Final Stakeholder Briefing Before CWS-CARES Go-Live 

Thank you to the 240+ stakeholders who have already registered for the next Stakeholder Briefing on Wednesday, November 18, 2026! If you’ve not yet registered, we encourage you to attend the live webinar on November 18, 2026, from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM.  All stakeholders are welcome to attend, ask questions, and hear updates from Project leadership.

Register now at: CWS-CARES Stakeholder Briefing #13: November 2026 registration. Note: A separate calendar invitation will not be sent by the CWS-CARES Project. Please manually add the .ics attachment in the registration confirmation email to your calendar. Updates will include:

• Preparing for Go-Live
  • Guidance for Cutover
  • What to Expect on Day 1
• Implementation & Support
  • CWS-CARES Help Desk and Go-Live Command Center
  • Over the Shoulder Support

Thank you for participating in our Stakeholder Briefing webinar series! We hope to see you on November 18, 2026 to continue the conversation on the upcoming transition to CWS-CARES.

New Resources Now Available on the CWDS Website

The following resource is now available on the Stakeholder Webinar Materials page on the CWDS website:

• Stakeholder_Briefing__12_October_2026_-_Q_A_-_ACC.pdf (Log-In Required)

View all past content and dates for all upcoming CWS-CARES Stakeholder Briefings in 2026 on the Stakeholder Briefings and Webinars page on the CWDS website.

New Fact Sheet: Case Documentation and Court-Related Functionality

The CWS-CARES Project Team has released a new fact sheet on Case Documentation and Court-Related Functionality.

This fact sheet covers how contact notes are structured, how information is brought together in one place, how documentation fields are sized to fit the content they need to hold, and how court work (from petitions through report generation) is organized and supported.

For more information, please see the Case Documentation and Court-Related Functionality Fact Sheet on the CWDS website.

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CWS-CARES Cutover

Action Required: CWS-CARES Cutover Notice #1 – Legacy System Read-Only Window & Downtime Procedures – 11/3/2026 

As CWS-CARES approaches Go-Live on Monday, December 7, 2026, at 7:00 AM, the Project has distributed the first of two cutover notices for your county or organization. This notice covers legacy system read-only windows, downtime procedures, and key readiness steps for counties and organizations.

Key dates for your awareness: 

• December 3, 2026, 5:00 PM: CWS/CMS and CARES-Live enter read-only mode. All staff must complete a final “Save to Database” and stop entering new information into CWS/CMS before this time.

• December 4, 2026, 5:00 PM: RFA Greenfield enters read-only mode.

• December 7, 2026, 7:00 AM: CWS-CARES Version 1 Go-Live

Ensure your county or organization completes the following key readiness steps: 

1. Complete verification of migrated county reports by Friday, November 13, 2026. 
2. Ensure all users have logged into Production by Monday, November 23, 2026.  
   • Refer to this previous communication for more information: CWS-CARES Production Login Verification & Statistics – 10/27/2026 | Child Welfare Digital Services 
3. Validate local county downtime processes and procedures by Monday, November 30, 2026. 

Cutover Notice #2 will be distributed on Thursday, November 26, 2026, and will include a final freeze reminder, go-live details, and step-by-step system access/login instructions. 

For full details, see the Action Required: CWS-CARES Cutover Notice #1 – Legacy System Read-Only Window & Downtime Procedures – 11/3/2026 article on the CWDS website.

CWS-CARES Weekly Production Login Statistics – 11/4/2026 

In preparation for CWS-CARES Go-Live on December 7, 2026, all CWS-CARES users must confirm their access to the Production environment by November 23, 2026. Each user must log in to the CWS-CARES Production environment to verify that their account and permissions are properly set up and active.

The CWS-CARES Project is sharing weekly Production login statistics to track progress by county with the Production User Login Progress Graph. The goal is for every county user to reach 100% completion on the login verification graph.

For full details, refer to the CWS-CARES Weekly Production Login Statistics – 11/4/2026 bulletin on the CWDS website.

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Production Simulation

CWS-CARES Production Simulation Challenge #2 

The CWS-CARES Production Simulation Challenges continue! These challenges are designed to give participants hands-on practice with various topics, building real confidence in the system before go-live. Thank you to all who participated in Challenge #1! We are excited to introduce the next challenge.

Challenge #2: Explore Social Worker Safety Concerns

Navigate to a new screening, referral, or case in Production Simulation and create a new Social Worker Safety Concern. Include the text "Prod Sim Challenge 2" in the Safety Alert Explanation in CARES100.

As you are documenting information:

• Follow the concern from the screening to the referral and case and note where it appears at each stage and in child welfare history.
• Consider how alerts and explanations are documented for better visibility to workers.

Seeing a concern early helps workers prepare before they go out. This reflects the realistic situations where information arrives in pieces, and it shows how the system keeps important safety information in view.

When to Complete

Counties and users that complete this challenge by Monday, November 9, 2026, will be recognized with a shout-out at the next County Advisory Committee call.

SEE UPDATED STORY ABOVE. Production Simulation Support Clinic – Adoptions 

The Production Simulation (Prod Sim) Tier 2 Support Team will host one Support Clinic on the topic of Adoptions on November 12, 2026 (11/12).

Date and Time: Thursday, November 12, 2026 (11/12) from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm.

Intended Audience: Active Prod Sim participants who interact with Adoptions.

Purpose: To provide a “click by click” walk through of adoption case creation through closure.

How to Attend and Review Past Sessions: For dial in information and to review previous recordings, please refer to the Production Simulation Hub. Users may have to create a log-in to access materials.

Notes: This session will focus on Adoptions and will not include a walkthrough of case management functionality conducted outside of the adoption case such as opening the child welfare case, documenting court information, plans, contact logs, and placement.

Action Needed: Create Your User Account for the New SafeMeasures® 

Starting November 16, California county staff can view CWS-CARES reports based on Production Simulation (Prod Sim) data in both classic SafeMeasures and the new SafeMeasures, which has a refreshed design, upgraded features, and advanced security. Here’s how to access each one:

Classic SafeMeasures

If you’ve logged in within the last six months, you can view CWS-CARES reports with your current credentials.

New SafeMeasures

Everyone needs a new user account to access the new SafeMeasures. Your county SafeMeasures administrator will send Evident Change a list of staff who need new SafeMeasures accounts. Then:

• Watch for an email from accounts@safemeasures.org stating that an account has been created for you. Your username will be your email address.
• Use the link in the email to create a password.

Once you’ve created your password, your account is ready for use.

If you do not receive an email saying an account has been created for you, please contact your county SafeMeasures administrator. If you are not aware who your administrator is, or if you have any questions, contact SafeMeasures Support. We’re here to help!

Complete Your SDM® Assessments Before CWS-CARES Go-Live 

CWS-CARES goes live on Monday, December 7. Before then, please make sure all required fields in your SDM assessments are filled in.

Only assessments with all required fields filled will be available as PDFs for reference in CWS-CARES. This includes assessments in any of these statuses:

• Not submitted: All required fields are complete, but the assessment has not been submitted.
• Submitted: Submitted but not yet approved.
• Approved
• Complete: No approval required.

Assessments in incomplete status, meaning one or more required fields are missing, will not be available in CWS-CARES.

To find out which of your assessments still need work, Evident Change has created a resource with links to SafeMeasures® reports. Staff and supervisors can use these reports to see which SDM assessments still need required fields completed.

If you need extra time, WebSDM will remain available during the cutover weekend before CWS-CARES Go Live so you can finish any remaining. After Go Live, WebSDM will be read-only.

Questions? Contact Evident Change’s general support helpdesk or California helpdesk.

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Implementation 

OCM Resources Update 

New and updated Organizational Change Management (OCM) resources have been added to the CWS-CARES Implementation Portal to support your readiness activities. The following materials are now available: 

• Change Impacts Tracker: A log of documented changes introduced by CWS-CARES. This file also includes an Excel tab labeled “November 1, 2026 Update” with a concise description of changes since the last version for easy review.  
• Key Legacy Terminology Crosswalk: A reference showing how legacy system terms compare to CWS-CARES terminology. This document is current as of November 1 and includes two new terms.
• OCM Tip #2 Blog: Before you assume resistance to change is a roadblock, what if it’s actually a roadmap? OCM Tip #2, Do I Really Have to Change? (What Your Resistance Is Actually Telling You), unpacks the hidden messages behind that overwhelmed or frustrated feeling.

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Training

New Training Videos Now Available!

Micro-Learning Videos

Looking for quick, targeted guidance as you build confidence in CWS‑CARES? The On-Demand Training Library Supplemental Training page now features a new collection of Micro‑Learning videos designed to help you get answers fast. These short, focused videos walk through common tasks, frequent questions, and real-world workflows in easy, bite‑sized segments. As part of Supplemental Training, a total of 41 Micro-Learning videos will be delivered and remaining videos will be uploaded on November 16.

ILT Course – Training Videos

Missed Instructor-Led Training (ILT) sessions or want a refresher? Recordings from ILT are included on the Training Videos page for:

• Courts
• Eligibility
• Placement
• Screening & Referrals

Stay tuned for additional recordings to become available prior to Go-Live.

Reminder: Register for Topic-Specific Training Demonstrations 

Organizations can enroll in Topic-Specific Training (TST) Demonstrations each week by accessing the registration links on the Supplemental Training page. These trainings are hosted by region via Microsoft Teams Webinar (with a max of 150 participants per session) and provide focused walkthroughs with opportunities for live Q&A. There are a total of 15 demonstration topics including areas such as Health & Education Passport & Public Health Nurse and Workaround Desk Guides.

Please continue to visit the updated Supplemental Training page to view topics, register for sessions, and download the corresponding practice guide for each TST demonstration. Due to the Veteran’s Day holiday, the next set of registration links will be posted on November 12.

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CWS-CARES Functionality 

CWS-CARES FAQ Spotlight: November 9, 2026

This week, the CWS-CARES FAQ Spotlight features the CWS-CARES Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) of the Week.

November 9, 2026, FAQ of the Week:  

Q: Once a user is deactivated in CWS-CARES, do they need a new Object ID when they are reactivated?

A: When the user is deactivated, the user profile (username, email address, first name, last name, Object ID) does not change, the profile attributes remain intact. When the user is reactivated, the same user profile attributes are used.

To view all of the CWS-CARES FAQs, please visit the CWDS website: CWS-CARES FAQs | CWDS Website.

Have a question? Send it to Customer Relations and we will be happy to help.

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Share Your Feedback and Subscribe

Thank you for following our progress! Share your feedback on this CWS-CARES Weekly Digest here: CWS-CARES Weekly Digest Feedback Form. Subscribe to future issues here: CWS-CARES Weekly Digest Subscription Form.

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Action Required: We request that all CWS-CARES Single Point of Contacts (SPOCs) and Implementation Coordinators coordinate and distribute the CWS-CARES Weekly Digest to all staff impacted by CWS-CARES, at their discretion.

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Security Protocols for Prod Sim Case Data

The Prod Sim environment contains converted CWS/CMS cases reflecting actual system data as of September 20, 2026. Because this includes real, sensitive Personally Identifiable Information (PII), all case information must be strictly protected or redacted.

To protect CWS-CARES case data, please follow these important security guidelines when working with our support teams:

• Redact Ticket Info: Do not send Protected Health Information (PHI), PII, or confidential case details to the Service Desk via email or ticket. Sensitive and confidential data cannot be stored in the ticketing system.
• Secure Screen Shares: During support-requested screen shares, limit attendees to essential personnel only. Recording of sensitive information is strictly prohibited.
• Consult for Tier 3 Transfers: If Tier 3 support needs sensitive data, use secure transmission methods. Contact your county Privacy Officer or the CWDS ISO if you need assistance with secure routing.

We appreciate your dedication to protecting the safety and privacy of vulnerable children and families while we work together to support your needs.

CARES SPOCs, Technical Contacts, Data Quality Contacts, Implementation Coordinators, OCM Coordinators, County Leadership, Tribe Leadership, Probation Leadership, and State Leadership:

We are sharing an update regarding the CWS-CARES Production Simulation (CARES100) environment schedule and Global Search functionality.

Please be advised that a scheduled system outage for Prod Sim (CARES100) will occur to apply necessary technical updates from Tuesday, November 10, 2026, at 5:00 PM to Thursday, November 12, 2026, at 8:00 AM. Please refer to the release notes posted on System Updates & Release Notes page for more details.

Following recent adjustments to stabilize the environment and safeguard data confidentiality, Global Search is being updated with specific parameters to support secure record retrieval.

Beginning Thursday, November 12, 2026, at 8:00 AM, Global Search is being selectively re-enabled specifically for core units of work (Referrals, Cases, and Screenings). All other search parameters remain restricted.

1. Search will only return results when querying exact IDs numbers:
   • CARES Business Key / ID (e.g., CARES Screening, Referral or Case ID)
   • Legacy CWS/CMS ID (e.g., CWS/CMS Case or Referral ID)
2. Broad or text-based queries will return no results. This includes searches by:
   • Screening, Referral, Case, or Person names / subject content
   • Assigned worker names
   • General text or metadata parameters
3. Standard permissions and security checks remain enforced for RBAC (Role Based Access Control).
4. If a user without proper permissions (e.g., lacking Sealed and Sensitive access) searches for a restricted ID, the system will yield no search results and display the message “Don't give up yet!” - identical to entering an invalid or non-existent ID. The system will not indicate whether a record exists.
5. Restricting Global Search to exact ID parameters mirrors the legacy CWS/CMS "Find Folder" functionality, which requires exact identifier matches rather than open-ended text searches.

If you have any questions or require further assistance navigating these search updates, please reach out through standard support channels.

Action Required

Please share this with all staff impacted by this information.

Please contact Customer Relations for questions.

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Security Protocols for Prod Sim Case Data

The Prod Sim environment contains converted CWS/CMS cases reflecting actual system data as of September 20, 2026. Because this includes real, sensitive Personally Identifiable Information (PII), all case information must be strictly protected or redacted.

To protect CWS-CARES case data, please follow these important security guidelines when working with our support teams:

• Redact Ticket Info: Do not send Protected Health Information (PHI), PII, or confidential case details to the Service Desk via email or ticket. Sensitive and confidential data cannot be stored in the ticketing system.
• Secure Screen Shares: During support-requested screen shares, limit attendees to essential personnel only. Recording of sensitive information is strictly prohibited.
• Consult for Tier 3 Transfers: If Tier 3 support needs sensitive data, use secure transmission methods. Contact your county Privacy Officer or the CWDS ISO if you need assistance with secure routing.

Please contact the Customer Relations mailbox for questions.

CARES SPOCs, Technical Contacts, Data Quality Contacts, Implementation Coordinators, OCM Coordinators, County Leadership, Tribe Leadership, Probation Leadership, and State Leadership:

We are pleased to announce the release of a new suite of CWS-CARES cutover readiness materials on the CWS-CARES Hub, to be available by the end of the day today, and the latest CWS-CARES Production login completion statistics.

The County Continued Operations Plan (COOP) Planning Guide for Cutover supports local agency readiness with a modular toolkit offering customizable tracking workbooks, fillable templates, and contingency protocols to maintain essential child welfare functions during the cutover window.

The CWS-CARES Go-Live Readiness Executive Overview is a package that includes detailed appendices covering key dates, conversion and cutover plans, rollout contingencies, support structures, interim workaround guidance, and business continuity plans.

Please note that these materials are living documents. The versions currently posted to the CWDS website represent a specific point-in-time snapshot of project planning; as cutover preparations progress and details are refined, these documents are subject to change and will be updated with new information and reposted accordingly.

We have also established a county-sharing area to host county-contributed planning documents. A special thank you to Fresno, Sacramento, and Los Angeles counties for contributing their materials to serve as valuable reference models. These resources are provided as optional reference models and should be tailored to meet local policy, court, and operational requirements. If your county or organization has additional resources or templates you would like to share, please contact Customer Relations. Submitted files will be reviewed and posted to the new county shared section.

The suite of materials will be posted to the new CWS-CARES Hub on the CWDS website, located on the Portals page and features areas for County COOP resources, Cutover, and Documents Shared By Counties. We are actively building and expanding this space. Please check back regularly as new resources, tools, and updates are added.

Additionally, we have included the Production Login Completion Statistics as of November 6, 2026. Please note that the Production environment is separate and distinct from the Prod Sim (CARES100) environment. As a reminder, each CWS-CARES user must log in to the Production environment to verify that their account access and permissions are active. Please ensure all county staff complete this account verification task by Monday, November 23, 2026.

Thank you for your partnership, coordination, and leadership as we work together toward a smooth cutover and successful go-live.

Action Required

Please share this with all staff impacted by this information.

Please contact Customer Relations for questions.

________________________________________________________________________

Security Protocols for Prod Sim Case Data

The Prod Sim environment contains converted CWS/CMS cases reflecting actual system data as of September 20, 2026. Because this includes real, sensitive Personally Identifiable Information (PII), all case information must be strictly protected or redacted.

To protect CWS-CARES case data, please follow these important security guidelines when working with our support teams:

• Redact Ticket Info: Do not send Protected Health Information (PHI), PII, or confidential case details to the Service Desk via email or ticket. Sensitive and confidential data cannot be stored in the ticketing system.
• Secure Screen Shares: During support-requested screen shares, limit attendees to essential personnel only. Recording of sensitive information is strictly prohibited.
• Consult for Tier 3 Transfers: If Tier 3 support needs sensitive data, use secure transmission methods. Contact your county Privacy Officer or the CWDS ISO if you need assistance with secure routing.

Please contact the Customer Relations mailbox for questions.

What is Impacted: CWS/CMS Application

 On Friday, November 13, 2026, from 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm, the CDE Interface will run to update Education Provider information for public schools, private schools, and school districts in the CWS/CMS application. This update applies to CDE school information only. School information manually created by a CWS/CMS user will not be affected. During this time, users may be unable to perform Education Provider searches in the CWS/CMS application.

Due to differences in data and formatting between CDE and the CWS/CMS application, some otherwise valid Education Providers may be end-dated.  If this occurs, please refer to the Work Around section below. A list of all end-dated Education Providers will be sent to the SPOCs via email as soon as they become available.

Work Around
If an existing CDE Education Provider has been end-dated because of this process, users will need to conduct a search for the current Education Provider and create a new Education Notebook for the client.

Contact
CWDS Customer Relations

November 6, 2026, UPDATE: CWS-CARES Production Simulation (CARES100) Re-Opened for Access & Search Guidance

To safeguard data confidentiality and system stability, Global Search for broad queries has been temporarily disabled and will return no search results.

Please note the following system behavior currently affecting Global Search:

1. Attempting to use Global search will return no results and display the system message: “Hmmm… something’s not right.” Please refer to the provided screenshot for the exact message displayed to users.

2. As a result, users are currently unable to search by Screening ID, Referral ID, or Case ID (from either legacy CWS/CMS or CWS-CARES).

To locate records, staff profiles, and provider resources while Global Search is restricted, please use the following primary search methods:

1. My Caseload Assignment View: Navigate to CARES -> Home to access direct assignments.

2. Person Search: Search by Person Profile, then navigate to Related Units of Work. Use specific identifiers (e.g., CWS/CMS Client ID, CARES Person ID, State ID) when possible, to narrow results.

3. RM Directory Search: Locate facilities, care providers, legal entities, and agency partners by selecting the appropriate RM Directory Type (e.g., Placement, Foster Family Agency, Adoption Agency, Government/Law Enforcement Agency, Regional Center, Education Provider).

4. Caseload Summary: For Administrators, Supervisors, and Workers with Transfer Authority to view unit assignments.

5. Worker Search (Staff Profiles): Access the Admin Console page and select Worker Search. Search using criteria such as email address, employee number, first/last name, or user status. This is currently available for administrators.

Action Required

Please share this with all staff impacted by this information. If users experience any lingering access issues or unexpected system behavior, please report them through standard support channels.

_________________________________________________________________________

November 5, 2026: URGENT: Unplanned Maintenance and Outage - CWS-CARES Production Simulation (CARES100) – 11/5/2026

CARES SPOCs, Technical Contacts, Data Quality Contacts, Implementation Coordinators, OCM Coordinators, County Leadership, Tribe Leadership, Probation Leadership, and State Leadership:

We are currently experiencing an unexpected outage in the CWS-CARES Production Simulation environment (CARES100).

Urgent unplanned maintenance is being performed by the technical team to resolve the issue as quickly as possible. We are actively monitoring the situation and will provide further updates regarding system availability as soon as more information becomes available.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Action Required

Please share this with all staff impacted by this information.

Please contact Customer Relations for questions.

_____________________________________________________________________

Security Protocols for Prod Sim Case Data

The Prod Sim environment contains converted CWS/CMS cases reflecting actual system data as of September 20, 2026. Because this includes real, sensitive Personally Identifiable Information (PII), all case information must be strictly protected or redacted.

To protect CWS-CARES case data, please follow these important security guidelines when working with our support teams:

• Redact Ticket Info: Do not send Protected Health Information (PHI), PII, or confidential case details to the Service Desk via email or ticket. Sensitive and confidential data cannot be stored in the ticketing system.
• Secure Screen Shares: During support-requested screen shares, limit attendees to essential personnel only. Recording of sensitive information is strictly prohibited.
• Consult for Tier 3 Transfers: If Tier 3 support needs sensitive data, use secure transmission methods. Contact your county Privacy Officer or the CWDS ISO if you need assistance with secure routing.

Please contact the Customer Relations mailbox for questions.