Few people are aware of just how easy it is to lose their child to "the system" of juvenile dependency. Like the rancorous divorce, having your child taken away is something that happens to "other people."

The line that divides regular people from "other people" is very thin. I've counseled and advised parents who raised their kids in Section 8 housing to those who lived in some of the toniest neighborhoods abutting Stanford, Hollywood, Pasadena and other famously exclusive zip codes. Potential violations of Welfare & Institutions Code sec. 300 and related laws does not only haunt the economically disenfranchised: anyone from any class can be accused of child abuse or neglect.

It typically begins when someone makes a fateful call to Child Protective Services ("CPS") claiming that your child is being abused. It may surprise many to learn that "Any person may apply to the social worker or probation officer to commence juvenile court proceedings." Cal. Rules of Court, rule 5.520(c). Under California law, this triggers a duty of a social worker to investigate whether or not the factual allegations supporting claims of abuse or neglect are true. Welf. & Inst. Code, sec. 329.

Unfortunately, most parents approach the problem in the same manner that many innocently suspected criminal clients do: they figure open transparency is the best policy. Naive thinking that can lead to bad consequences. By mistakenly relying on the understandable "honesty is the best policy" strategy, the parent has unwittingly handed the keys to the very person he or she ought to fear the most: the social worker. In fact, many parents naively both literally and figuratively open the doors to their homes to the person with the potential to completely upend their family life.

To make matters worse, the phone-call (or "application" as it is called under The Code) oftentimes originates from a past enemy, or malicious family member. It occurs more often than people believe.

What no-one can prepare for is the very real possibility that one's children will be taken away from them for a time that might last nearly two years; or in the worst case essentially forever because the court may decide that a parent is an unfit parent and that their children belong in a foster home. Case law is filled with horrifying stories in which foster parents or other relatives adopt children in total contravention with the parents' wishes.

Do not delude yourself into thinking that you can convince either the social worker or the state counsel that your children deserve to stay with you: the social worker's salary is dependent on her doing her job, and county counsel's job is to prosecute.

Mr. Tung has successfully intervened and negotiated dependency matters to dismissal before the jurisdiction and disposition hearings, thereby foreclosing the need for court involvement with the parenting of children. Myriad Law can guide you, the worried parent, through this emotionally harrowing experience.

Contact us for a consultation.