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Long Beach is big enough to have its own police department, its own school district, its own family law courthouse, and two hospitals with birthing centers. It is not big enough to have its own dependency court; every Long Beach case is heard forty minutes north in Monterey Park. When a DCFS social worker or a Long Beach Police officer contacts a family in Belmont Shore, Bixby Knolls, Los Altos, North Long Beach, or the Westside, the first 72 hours decide the shape of everything that follows. ALL Trial Lawyers represents Long Beach parents through investigations, safety plans, emergency removals, detention hearings, and contested trials at the Edmund D. Edelman Children's Court.
Free · Confidential · 24/7 · Belmont Shore · Naples · Bixby Knolls · Los Altos · California Heights · Downtown · North Long Beach · Westside · Signal Hill · Lakewood
Long Beach referrals are typically assigned to the DCFS regional office serving Long Beach and the Lakewood area, with law enforcement involvement coming from the Long Beach Police Department. 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 Long Beach 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 Long Beach family is shaped by which DCFS office investigates, how the Long Beach Police Department writes its reports, 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.
Long Beach Police answer domestic calls across the city, and an LBPD domestic-disturbance report is the seed of most § 300(b) failure-to-protect referrals here. A single call, no arrest, and a referral against the parent who was the victim of it is one of the most common petitions filed from Long Beach and one of the most defensible if the protective steps already taken are documented early.
§ 300(b) after a domestic call
Miller Children's & Women's Hospital and Dignity Health St. Mary Medical Center between them deliver a large share of the southeast county's babies and see most of its pediatric emergencies. Newborn toxicology referrals and hospital-originated injury cases from Long Beach usually begin at one of them, and Miller's pediatric specialists write the consult that DCFS relies on. The medical differential, not the parent's explanation, answers those cases.
Newborn screens and medical mimics
Long Beach Unified counselors and school psychologists at Poly, Wilson, Millikan, Lakewood, Cabrillo, and Jordan High and the middle and elementary sites; St. Anthony, Long Beach Christian, and the other parochial and independent schools; therapists retained during a divorce. Each is a mandated reporter under Penal Code § 11165.7.
A report is not a finding
Long Beach family law is heard at the Governor George Deukmejian Courthouse downtown, and a large share of the referrals we see arrive in the middle of a custody case there. Once a § 300 petition is filed, the dependency court in Monterey Park takes exclusive control of custody under § 304, and the Long Beach orders stop controlling until the case closes. The referral has to be closed first.
§ 304 and § 362.4
Most Long Beach 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 Long Beach families, that means an attorney who appears regularly at Edelman, knows the Long Beach-area DCFS office and the Long Beach Police Department, and has litigated the allegation patterns these cases actually produce: failure-to-protect allegations after an LBPD domestic call, newborn toxicology and injury referrals from Miller Children's and St. Mary, and referrals timed to custody hearings downtown. 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: Costa Mesa, 3420 Bristol Street, for southeast Long Beach families (20 minutes via the 405). 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
Long Beach referrals are typically assigned to the DCFS regional office serving Long Beach and the Lakewood area. Law enforcement involvement comes from the Long Beach Police Department. The assignment is confirmed at first contact.
Before a court orders it, yes. Testing during the investigation is voluntary. Refusal is documented and a positive result follows you, so whether and when to test is a strategic decision to make with counsel, not on the spot.
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; request the interview details from the school in writing through counsel.
Hospital staff are mandated reporters and must report any suspicion, including findings that turn out to have an innocent or medical explanation. Get the complete record in writing, do not guess at how an injury occurred, and let counsel arrange the formal interviews and, where the allegation is medical, an independent specialist's review before the closing decision.
Yes. Relatives receive preferential consideration under § 361.3, and DCFS must begin assessing relatives at the time of removal under § 309. A relative who is named, willing to be assessed and fingerprinted, and present at the detention hearing changes the outcome.
At Edmund D. Edelman Children's Court, 201 Centre Plaza Dr, Monterey Park, roughly 40 minutes from Long Beach via the 710. 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 Long Beach 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.
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