Where Los Angeles CPS cases are heard
Los Angeles is in Los Angeles County, so the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) handles the investigation and files petitions under Welfare & Institutions Code § 300. The case itself is heard at the Edmund D. Edelman Children's Court, where a judge decides whether your child comes home, where your child lives during the case, and how often you can visit. The courthouse is the Edmund D. Edelman Children's Court, 201 Centre Plaza Drive, Monterey Park, CA 91754. Arrive at least 30 minutes early with photo ID. Security screening at the entrance; paid parking in the adjacent structure.
Your case number and the department are on the first page of the petition and every notice you receive. Departments and courtrooms move; check the lobby directory the morning of your hearing. Dependency hearings are closed to the public, so only parties, attorneys, and people the court allows may be in the courtroom.
Monterey Park, CA 91754
Monday–Friday; detention calendar in the morning
The stages of a CPS case at the Edmund D. Edelman Children's Court
Investigation. A hotline referral sends a DCFS social worker to your home. The worker usually has 30 days to decide whether the report is unfounded, inconclusive, or substantiated. Nothing is filed in court yet, and this is the stage where a prepared parent can keep the case from ever reaching the courthouse.
Detention hearing. If your child is removed, DCFS must file a petition within 48 hours (weekends and court holidays excluded), and the court must hold the detention hearing by the end of the next court day after the petition is filed. At the Edmund D. Edelman Children's Court these are on the morning calendar. The judge decides where your child lives while the case is pending.
Jurisdiction hearing. The trial on the petition, usually within a few weeks. County counsel must prove the allegations by a preponderance of the evidence; allegations can be dismissed or amended.
Disposition hearing. Often the same day as jurisdiction. The court decides whether the child stays home under supervision or remains removed, and orders the case plan.
Review hearings. Every six months. The judge reviews your progress on the case plan and the quality of your visits, and decides whether to expand visitation, return the child, or end services.
Reunification timelines. Services generally run six months for a child under three at removal and twelve months for a child three or older, extendable to eighteen, measured from the disposition hearing (Welfare & Institutions Code § 361.5). If services end without a return home, the court sets a § 366.26 hearing to choose a permanent plan.
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Watch: how to challenge your detention hearing
Before the hearing
Arrive early
Plan to be inside the building 30 to 45 minutes before the calendar starts. Parking, the security line, and finding the department all take longer than you expect, and a judge who calls your case while you're in the parking structure may proceed without you.
What to bring
Government photo ID, the petition and every report or notice you've received, proof of anything you've already done (class enrollment, test results, a lease, a pay stub), the names and phone numbers of relatives willing to take placement, and a pen. Bring your phone but keep it silent and put away. Do not bring your children unless the court ordered them to appear.
How to dress and act
Dress as you would for a job interview. In the courtroom, stand when the judge enters, speak only when asked, and address the judge as "Your Honor." Never interrupt the social worker or county counsel, however untrue what they're saying is; your attorney will respond. Judges decide credibility in minutes, and composure is most of it.
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Who is in the courtroom
The judge or commissioner; county counsel, the lawyer for DCFS; the social worker; the child's attorney (every child gets one); your attorney; the other parent and their attorney; and sometimes a relative caregiver. The child's attorney and the social worker's recommendation carry real weight, which is why we talk to both before the hearing, not just at it.
What a typical hearing day looks like
The clerk calls the calendar; attorneys check in and tell the court whether the matter is agreed, needs a short hearing, or needs a contested setting. Agreed matters go first. Contested detention and jurisdiction hearings are heard in the order the judge sets, often after a meet-and-confer in the hallway where placement and visitation get negotiated. Most hearings last 15 to 30 minutes; a contested jurisdiction trial can take a full day or more across several dates.
Visitation and placement
If your child is detained, the court sets visitation at the first hearing, usually monitored at first. Every hearing after that is a chance to expand it. Relatives are preferred over foster care by law; if a grandparent, aunt, or uncle can take placement, get their name and contact information to us before the hearing so the assessment can start immediately.
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Our main office is in Arcadia, and we appear in Los Angeles County juvenile court for parents throughout the county, including Long Beach, Glendale, Pasadena, Torrance, Pomona, Palmdale, Lancaster, Downey, Inglewood, West Covina, Norwalk, Burbank, and the surrounding communities.
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