20+ year of experience
Trial ready
Personal attention
Encino and Sherman Oaks are where the San Fernando Valley's family wealth concentrates: the hills south of Ventura Boulevard, the flats from Hesby Oaks to Chandler Estates, and a workforce split between the studios over the hill and the professional offices along Ventura. When a DCFS social worker or an LAPD Van Nuys or West Valley officer contacts one of those families, the first 72 hours decide the shape of everything that follows. ALL Trial Lawyers represents Encino and Sherman Oaks parents through investigations, safety plans, emergency removals, detention hearings, and contested trials at the Edmund D. Edelman Children's Court.
Free · Confidential · 24/7 · Encino Hills · Royal Oaks · Amestoy Estates · Encino Village · Longridge Estates · Sherman Oaks Hills · Magnolia Woods · Chandler Estates · Ventura Blvd corridor
Encino and Sherman Oaks referrals are typically assigned to the DCFS Van Nuys regional office, with Encino's western neighborhoods sometimes routed to the West San Fernando Valley office. Law enforcement involvement comes from LAPD's Van Nuys Division for Sherman Oaks and West Valley Division for Encino. 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 Valley 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 an Encino or Sherman Oaks family is shaped by which DCFS office investigates, which LAPD division 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.
The DCFS Van Nuys regional office and the Van Nuys courthouse that hears the Valley's family law calendar sit a few blocks apart, and a large share of the referrals we see from Encino and Sherman Oaks 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 and visitation under § 304, and the Van Nuys family court's orders stop controlling until the case closes. The referral has to be closed first.
§ 304 and § 362.4
Sherman Oaks is Van Nuys Division; Encino is West Valley Division. A domestic call on Dixie Canyon and a domestic call in Amestoy Estates are written by different officers with different habits, and the DCFS referral that follows a domestic call, almost always a § 300(b) failure-to-protect theory against the parent who was not the aggressor, reads differently as a result. We know both.
§ 300(b) after a domestic call
LAUSD counselors and psychologists at Lanai Road, Hesby Oaks, Encino Charter, Dixie Canyon, Kester, Sherman Oaks Center for Enriched Studies, and Millikan; Buckley, Notre Dame, Crespi, Campbell Hall, Westmark, and the other independent schools along the Boulevard; the emergency departments at Providence Cedars-Sinai Tarzana, Sherman Oaks Hospital, and Valley Presbyterian, with pediatric transfers to CHLA or UCLA Mattel; pediatricians and therapists retained during a divorce. Each is a mandated reporter under Penal Code § 11165.7.
A report is not a finding
Encino and Sherman Oaks households disproportionately include studio and network executives, performers, physicians, attorneys, and business owners with partners. Dependency hearings are closed under § 346 and records are confidential under § 827, so the court file is not the exposure. A substantiated finding or a Child Abuse Central Index listing under Penal Code § 11170 is, because it surfaces in background checks, licensing renewals, and the custody case. Closing the referral as unfounded, and documenting in writing that nothing reached CACI, is the whole strategy.
Penal Code § 11170 CACI defense
Most Encino and Sherman Oaks 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 Encino and Sherman Oaks families, that means an attorney who appears regularly at Edelman, knows the Van Nuys and West San Fernando Valley regional offices, and has litigated the allegation patterns these cases actually produce: failure-to-protect allegations after a Van Nuys or West Valley Division domestic call, referrals timed to custody hearings at the Van Nuys courthouse, and allegations built on a parent's mental health treatment or medication. 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.
Over the hill: Twenty minutes via the 405 or Beverly Glen. Also 9465 Wilshire Blvd, Suite 300, and 8383 Wilshire Blvd, Suite 800, Beverly Hills. In-person consultations by appointment; phone and video any hour.
Court: Edmund D. Edelman Children's Court, 201 Centre Plaza Dr, Monterey Park, CA 91754
Both are typically assigned to the DCFS Van Nuys regional office, with some western Encino addresses routed to the West San Fernando Valley office. LAPD involvement comes from Van Nuys Division for Sherman Oaks and West Valley Division for Encino. The assignment is confirmed at first contact.
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.
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. Tell your dependency and family law attorneys about each other the same day, and close the referral before a petition exists.
This is the most common petition filed from Valley domestic calls and one of the most defensible. The protective steps you already took, the call, the separation, the restraining order, are the evidence. They need to be documented and delivered to the social worker before the closing decision, through counsel.
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 45 minutes from Sherman Oaks via the 101 and the 10. 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 Encino and Sherman Oaks 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.
All fields are required. If you need immediate assistance, do not hesitate to call us at (866) 811-4255.