Counties Warn CWS CARES 'Not Ready' as State Defends October Go‑Live

County leaders told the Senate subcommittee that the CWS CARES child‑welfare case‑management replacement is not ready for an October statewide launch and urged legislative intervention or a brief delay so fixes can be validated.

Carlos Marquez of the County Welfare Directors Association said frontline staff testing production‑simulation builds reported major functional gaps and safety risks. "The system, as it exists today, cannot guarantee these protections and remains too unstable for release into a live child welfare environment where the safety of children hangs in the balance," he said, citing hotline documentation times that counties report have ballooned and safety alerts that are not populating reliably.

Administration and vendor view: The Department of Social Services, OTSI and vendor contractors acknowledged red‑flag issues but argued they are being tracked and remediated. LAO analyst Xin Ma noted the project's history of schedule and baseline changes and the current approved baseline of roughly $1.7 billion. "Under the project's current approved baseline, the total project cost is approximately $1,700,000,000," she told the committee. CDSS officials cautioned that a multi‑month or multi‑year delay would increase costs; CDSS estimated a large‑scale delay could raise General Fund exposure by hundreds of millions of dollars.

Key points and evidence: • Counties say critical 'essential stories'—user functions the field considers necessary—remain incomplete, and that some fixes have not had sufficient county validation time. • Project leads said 26 of 36 milestones are complete, 10 remain, and the team has closed more than 1,400 defects recently; they set a code freeze for 09/25 and a formal go/no‑go decision checkpoint for 09/29. • Vendors described training and support plans, including up to 30 days of on‑site and 60 days of virtual post‑launch support and production‑simulation access for more than 25,000 county staff.

Committee concerns and next steps: Legislators repeatedly pressed for an objective go/no‑go checklist, a credible 'plan B' if readiness criteria are unmet, and more clarity about which items will be deferred to post‑go‑live releases. County and labor witnesses urged the subcommittee to prioritize child safety over schedule constraints and sought a legislatively defined delay window the state could use without risking federal funding. State officials said the 60‑day federal APD window is a key constraint and that extending beyond it would require new federal negotiations.

No vote was taken. The subcommittee requested ongoing briefings and evidence of defect resolution and county validation as readiness checkpoints approach.