California Juvenile Dependency & CPS Defense Lawyers
When Child Protective Services opens a case against you, the clock starts immediately. We represent parents in juvenile dependency proceedings across California — from the first social-worker contact through trial, review hearings, and appeal.
California CPS & Juvenile Dependency Defense — A Word from Our Firm
When Child Protective Services or a county Department of Children and Family Services opens a case against you, the clock starts immediately. A social worker can interview your children at school without telling you, a detention hearing can be set within 48 hours of removal, and the petition filed against you in juvenile dependency court will shape every conversation that follows. Whether the allegation is general neglect, failure to protect, severe physical abuse, sexual abuse, or a positive toxicology screen at birth, the parents who keep their families together are almost always the ones who got a lawyer involved early.
ALL Trial Lawyers represents parents and guardians in juvenile dependency proceedings throughout California. Our firm handles cases from the initial CPS investigation through detention, jurisdiction, disposition, six-month and twelve-month reviews, and the .26 selection-and-implementation hearing. We also handle dependency appeals and writ petitions when a trial court ruling needs to be challenged. Founding attorney Mohammad Abuershaid has counseled and represented hundreds of parents against CPS, DCFS, and other county social service agencies across Southern California.
Call 866-811-4255 for a free, confidential consultation.
What Juvenile Dependency Law Actually Is
Juvenile dependency is a separate court system from family law and from criminal court. It exists under Welfare and Institutions Code section 300 to determine whether a child should be placed under the protection of the state because a parent is alleged to be unable or unwilling to protect them. The agency that brings the case — CPS in some counties, DCFS in Los Angeles, CFS in San Bernardino, HHSA in San Diego — files a petition in the juvenile court alleging one or more grounds under section 300. From that point forward, parents are adverse parties to the county in a courtroom proceeding with its own rules, its own evidentiary standards, and its own timelines.
The stakes are not financial. Dependency court can remove your children, restrict your contact to monitored visitation, order you into reunification services, and ultimately terminate your parental rights if the case is not corrected. Because the proceedings move quickly and because the burden of proof at jurisdiction is only a preponderance of the evidence — not beyond a reasonable doubt — parents who treat dependency like a slow-moving administrative process tend to lose ground they cannot recover.
The Allegations We Handle
Our firm handles the full range of WIC § 300 petitions, including:
- General neglect (§ 300(b)): the most common allegation, covering everything from housing conditions to missed medical appointments to a parent's substance use affecting the child
- Failure to protect (§ 300(b)): typically filed when one parent is alleged to have failed to protect the child from the conduct of the other parent or a household member
- Severe physical abuse (§ 300(a) and § 300(e)): including allegations involving bruising, burns, fractures, and head injuries in young children
- Sexual abuse (§ 300(d)): including allegations involving the child, a sibling, or another child in the household
- Positive toxicology at birth (§ 300(b)): newborn cases triggered by hospital reporting of a positive screen on mother or infant
- Severe emotional damage (§ 300(c))
- No provision for support (§ 300(g)): incarceration, hospitalization, or other cases where a parent is alleged to be unavailable
- Sibling abuse (§ 300(j)): cases where the petition is grounded in conduct toward another child in the home
- Cruelty (§ 300(i))
Many of the cases we see also involve concurrent criminal investigations — particularly child endangerment, corporal injury, and DUI-with-child charges. Because our firm also handles criminal defense, we coordinate the dependency strategy with the criminal exposure so that statements made in one forum do not undermine the other.
How a California Dependency Case Moves
The dependency timeline is statutory. Knowing where you are in it is the first step in knowing what to do.
Investigation and pre-petition contact
The social worker may ask to come into your home, interview your children, or have you sign a "safety plan." You are not required to consent to a home visit without a warrant, and what you say to a social worker can and will appear in the detention report. This is the stage where having counsel involved matters most and is most often skipped.
Detention hearing
If the agency removes a child, a detention hearing must be held within one court day after the petition is filed (Welf. & Inst. Code § 315). The court decides whether the child remains detained, is released to a parent, or is placed with a relative. Many of our most consequential interventions happen here — before the court has formed its first impression of the family.
Jurisdiction hearing
The court decides whether the petition's allegations are true by a preponderance of the evidence. This is the trial of the dependency case. Allegations sustained at jurisdiction follow the family for the life of the case.
Disposition hearing
If allegations are sustained, the court decides what happens next: services, removal, placement, visitation orders, and a case plan.
Review hearings
Cases are reviewed every six months. At six-month and twelve-month reviews, the court evaluates the parent's progress on the case plan and decides whether to continue reunification, return the child, or set a .26 hearing.
.26 hearing (selection and implementation)
When reunification is terminated, the court selects a permanent plan: adoption, guardianship, or long-term foster care. This is also where parental rights can be terminated.
Appeals and writs
Many dispositional and post-dispositional orders are appealable. Some — including orders setting a .26 hearing — must be challenged by writ within strict deadlines.
What a CPS Defense Attorney Actually Does
The work is not just showing up to hearings. The substantive work in a dependency case happens between hearings and consists of:
- Reviewing the detention report and discovery line by line for factual inaccuracies, hearsay sources, and unsupported conclusions, then putting those challenges into a written response
- Filing § 388 petitions to modify court orders when circumstances change — placement, visitation, services, return of the child
- Negotiating with county counsel and the social worker to narrow or strike allegations before the jurisdiction hearing, often resolving cases without a sustained finding
- Cross-examining social workers and reporting parties at contested hearings on the basis of their reports, their training, and inconsistencies in the record
- Coordinating with criminal defense counsel when there is a parallel criminal case so that case-plan compliance does not become a criminal admission
- Working with experts — pediatric radiologists in fracture cases, addiction medicine specialists in tox cases, child psychologists in sexual abuse cases — when the agency's expert opinions need to be challenged
- Briefing and arguing writs and appeals when the trial court gets it wrong
A dependency case is a paper case. Most of what determines the outcome is in the reports filed before the hearing, not in what gets said at the hearing itself. The lawyer who reads the entire record and writes a response is in a different position than the lawyer who shows up and reacts.
Counties We Serve
ALL Trial Lawyers handles juvenile dependency cases throughout California, with the deepest courtroom presence in Southern California. Each county runs its dependency calendar differently, and knowing the local practice — which judicial officer hears which calendar, how county counsel typically negotiates, how the local CASA program engages — is part of what we bring to the representation.
Why Parents Choose ALL Trial Lawyers
Trial-ready
Our attorneys have tried over 55 jury and bench trials. In a dependency context, the willingness to take a case to a contested jurisdiction hearing — and the credibility that comes from actually doing it — changes how county counsel approaches negotiation.
Founding attorney with dependency depth
Mohammad Abuershaid leads the firm's dependency practice and has personally counseled and represented hundreds of parents in CPS and DCFS matters across Southern California. His work covers the full severity range, from first-contact general neglect cases to serious physical abuse and sexual abuse petitions.
Integrated criminal and dependency defense
When a dependency case overlaps with a criminal investigation, parents often face two cases that pull in opposite directions. Our firm handles both, so the strategy is coordinated rather than reactive.
Available across Southern California
With offices in Orange, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, and the Inland Empire, we appear in the dependency courts our clients are actually summoned to.
Recognized year after year
Mohammad Abuershaid has been selected to Super Lawyers every year from 2020 through 2026, and to the Super Lawyers Rising Stars list for the same 2020 through 2026 period. He has received the Avvo Client's Choice Award from 2020 through 2025, the OCCDL Top Ten Young Lawyer of Orange County recognition for 2023, the Justia Ten out of Ten rating, and the Lawyers.com Gold Client Champion Award. He holds Avvo's 10.0 Top Attorney rating and a Yelp 10.00 rating with a Yelp Best of Lawyers recognition.
What to Do If You Just Got the Call
If a social worker has contacted you, or if your child has been detained, the most important moves in the first 24–48 hours are usually:
- Do not give a recorded interview without counsel. You have the right to decline.
- Do not sign a safety plan without reading it carefully. A safety plan often functions as informal supervision and can include terms a court would not order.
- Identify a relative who can be considered for placement. California has a strong preference for relative placement and the agency is required to assess relatives early.
- Preserve the record. Save text messages, voicemails, photos, and any documentation of the conditions or events being alleged.
- Call a dependency attorney before the detention hearing. Public counsel is appointed at the detention hearing in many cases, but the most consequential decisions about your case are often made before that appointment.
Call us at 866-811-4255 for a free consultation. We can advise on next steps even if you are not yet ready to retain counsel.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is juvenile dependency the same as family court?
No. Family court handles custody disputes between parents. Juvenile dependency is a separate court where the state — through CPS, DCFS, or another county agency — alleges that a child is at risk and seeks protective jurisdiction over the family. Orders in dependency court generally supersede family court orders for the duration of the dependency case.
Do I need a lawyer if the court will appoint one?
The court appoints counsel at the detention hearing for parents who cannot afford one. Many parents are well-served by appointed counsel. Others — particularly in serious-allegation cases, cases with concurrent criminal exposure, or cases where the parent wants more attorney time than a high-volume appointed panel can provide — choose to retain private counsel. The earlier you have a lawyer involved, the more options you have.
Can CPS take my child without a court order?
A social worker can remove a child without a warrant if there is reasonable cause to believe the child is in immediate danger (Welf. & Inst. Code § 305). In other circumstances, a warrant or court order is required. Whether a particular removal was lawful is often litigated later in the case.
What is the burden of proof in a dependency case?
At jurisdiction, the agency must prove the allegations by a preponderance of the evidence — meaning more likely than not. This is a lower standard than the "beyond a reasonable doubt" standard in criminal cases and is one reason dependency cases move so quickly.
How long does a California dependency case last?
Reunification timelines depend on the age of the child. Parents of children under three generally have six months of reunification services; parents of older children generally have twelve months, with the possibility of an additional six. Cases that resolve at the petition stage can close in a matter of weeks; contested cases can last two years or more.
Will a dependency case affect my immigration status?
A dependency case itself does not directly affect immigration status, but underlying conduct alleged in the petition — particularly conduct that overlaps with criminal charges — can. If you are not a U.S. citizen and there is any criminal component to your case, this needs to be raised with counsel early.
Can I get my child back if reunification has been terminated?
In limited circumstances, yes. A petition under Welfare and Institutions Code § 388 can be filed if there is a change of circumstances and the modification is in the child's best interest. These petitions are difficult but not impossible, and we have handled them.
What does it cost to hire a dependency attorney?
Dependency representation is generally handled on a flat-fee or hourly basis depending on the stage of the case and the anticipated work. We discuss fees during the free consultation so there is no surprise.
Talk to a California Dependency Attorney Today
If your family is facing a CPS or DCFS case anywhere in California, call for a free, confidential consultation. We will listen to what is happening, explain where you are in the process, and tell you honestly what we can do.
866-811-4255