Cerritos and Artesia share a border, a Sheriff's station, the ABC Unified School District, and a family court calendar in Norwalk. When a DCFS social worker or a Cerritos Station deputy contacts a family near Cerritos Towne Center, in Los Cerritos, or along Pioneer Boulevard, the first 72 hours decide the shape of everything that follows. ALL Trial Lawyers represents Cerritos and Artesia parents through investigations, safety plans, emergency removals, detention hearings, and contested trials at the Edmund D. Edelman Children's Court.
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Cerritos and Artesia referrals are typically assigned to a DCFS southeast-county regional office serving the Gateway Cities, with law enforcement involvement coming from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Cerritos Station, which serves both cities under contract. If the department believes a child is at risk, it can detain the child, file a Welfare and Institutions Code § 300 petition, and open a case at the Edmund D. Edelman Children's Court in Monterey Park, the single dependency court for the entire county. Our firm defends Cerritos and Artesia parents from the first social worker contact through every hearing, and closes most referrals before a petition is ever filed. Call (866) 811-4255 for a free, confidential consultation.
Dependency law is statewide, but the case that lands on a Cerritos or Artesia family is shaped by which DCFS office investigates, which agency wrote the report, which institutions made the call, what else the family is litigating, and what the family has to lose. We build the defense around those specifics.
Cerritos and Artesia both contract with the Sheriff, and the Cerritos Station answers domestic calls in both. A deputy's domestic-disturbance report is the seed of most § 300(b) failure-to-protect referrals in the two cities, and how it describes the scene, who it names as the aggressor, and whether children are listed as present decides how the DCFS referral is written.
§ 300(b) after a domestic call
ABC Unified counselors and school psychologists at Cerritos High, Whitney High, Artesia High, Gahr High, and the elementary and middle sites; Valley Christian and the other parochial and independent schools; the emergency departments at Lakewood Regional Medical Center, Kaiser Downey, and Los Alamitos Medical Center, with pediatric transfers to Miller Children's & Women's in Long Beach or CHLA; pediatricians and therapists retained during a divorce. Each is a mandated reporter under Penal Code § 11165.7.
A report is not a finding
Southeast-county family law is heard at the Norwalk Courthouse, and a large share of the referrals we see from Cerritos and Artesia arrive in the middle of a custody case there. Once a § 300 petition is filed, the dependency court takes exclusive control of custody and visitation under § 304, and the Norwalk orders stop controlling until the case closes. The referral has to be closed first.
§ 304 and § 362.4
Many Cerritos and Artesia households speak Korean, Mandarin, Cantonese, Tagalog, Gujarati, Punjabi, Hindi, or Spanish at home. A parent is entitled to an interpreter at every court hearing, and a first DCFS interview conducted in a second language without one produces the misunderstandings that become "inconsistencies" in the referral. We request interpreters for department interviews as well, and we practice in English, Spanish, and Arabic.
Gov. Code § 68092.1; Cal. Rules of Court, rule 1.300
Most Cerritos and Artesia referrals can be closed before a Welfare and Institutions Code § 300 petition is ever filed. When they cannot, we litigate every stage at the Edmund D. Edelman Children's Court in Monterey Park, the single dependency court for all of Los Angeles County.
Home visits, school interviews, safety plans, and the 30-day closing decision. We get between you and the department before the referral narrative is written.
Investigation stage
Petition within 48 hours, hearing by the next judicial day (§§ 313, 315). We prepare the alternative-to-detention plan and the relative who can take placement under § 361.3.
Days after removal
Cross-examining the social worker, excluding hearsay, and retaining medical and forensic experts to answer the § 300 allegations on a preponderance standard.
The trial of the case
Pushing back on excessive services, protecting visitation, and getting children home under family maintenance rather than out under reunification.
Where the case plan is set
Six-, twelve-, and eighteen-month reviews, contested § 366.26 hearings, and modification petitions when circumstances change.
The long game
Challenging a Child Abuse Central Index listing under Penal Code § 11170 before it reaches a licensing board, a studio background check, or an employer.
Professional consequences
DCFS has roughly 30 days to complete an emergency response investigation and close a referral as unfounded, inconclusive, or substantiated. That decision, not the courtroom, is where most cases are actually decided. This is what investigation-stage representation looks like.
Founding partner and lead trial attorney, ALL Trial Lawyers / Abuershaid Law, APC. California State Bar #297270. Mo began his career at the Orange County Public Defender's Office and has personally handled more than 2,000 juvenile dependency matters across Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, and San Diego counties. He is a Super Lawyers and Rising Stars honoree every year from 2020 through 2026, holds an Avvo 10.0 rating, and practices in English, Spanish, and Arabic.
For Cerritos and Artesia families, that means an attorney who appears regularly at Edelman, knows the southeast-county DCFS offices and the Cerritos Sheriff's Station, and has litigated the allegation patterns these cases actually produce: failure-to-protect allegations after a domestic call, school discipline referrals, and referrals timed to custody hearings in Norwalk. Full biography and credentials.
Speak with Mo's teamALL Trial Lawyers / Abuershaid Law, APC
10880 Wilshire Blvd, Suite 1101
Los Angeles, CA 90024
Phone: (866) 811-4255 · 24/7 emergency line
Hours: Weekdays 7:30 a.m.–11:00 p.m. · Weekends 8:00 a.m.–11:00 p.m.
Also: 9465 Wilshire Blvd, Suite 300, and 8383 Wilshire Blvd, Suite 800, Beverly Hills; 3200 E. Guasti Road, Suite 100, Ontario. Phone and video any hour; in-person meetings by appointment or at Edelman.
Court: Edmund D. Edelman Children's Court, 201 Centre Plaza Dr, Monterey Park, CA 91754
Both cities are typically assigned to a DCFS regional office serving the southeast county and Gateway Cities. Law enforcement involvement comes from the Sheriff's Cerritos Station. The assignment is confirmed at first contact and shapes strategy from day one.
Not without a warrant, a court order, or an emergency. You can decline entry politely and say your attorney will contact the worker within 24 hours. Refusing entry is not evidence of abuse and cannot by itself justify removal.
Yes, at every court hearing as a matter of right, and you should insist on one for department interviews as well. A first interview conducted without one produces the misunderstandings the department later calls inconsistencies.
A referral alone does not. A § 300 petition does: under § 304 the dependency court takes exclusive control of custody until the case closes, and its exit orders under § 362.4 become the family court's orders. Close the referral before a petition exists.
Yes. Penal Code § 11174.3 allows a child protective agency to interview a suspected victim at school without parental notice or consent; the child may ask for a staff member to be present. Do not question your child afterward about what they said. That will be characterized as coaching.
At Edmund D. Edelman Children's Court, 201 Centre Plaza Dr, Monterey Park, roughly 30 minutes from Cerritos via the 605 and the 60. If a child is removed, DCFS must file its petition within 48 hours, excluding weekends and court holidays, and the detention hearing is held by the end of the next judicial day after filing (§§ 313, 315).
Whether a social worker just called, a safety plan is on the table, or your child has been removed, the first conversation is free and confidential. We will tell you in ten minutes whether you need representation.
Call (866) 811-4255 NowAlso serving Cerritos and Artesia families from our offices in Los Angeles (10880 Wilshire Blvd, Suite 1101) and Beverly Hills (9465 Wilshire Blvd, Suite 300; 8383 Wilshire Blvd, Suite 800).
Attorney advertising. This page is general legal information about California juvenile dependency law and is not legal advice for any specific situation. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship; that relationship is formed only by a signed written engagement agreement. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes. Statutes cited are summarized and subject to change. Responsible attorney: Mohammad Abuershaid, Esq. (State Bar #297270), ALL Trial Lawyers / Abuershaid Law, APC, 10880 Wilshire Blvd, Suite 1101, Los Angeles, CA 90024. Phone (866) 811-4255.