THE DISPOSITION HEARING

 Child Protective Services

Speak With Me About Your Case For Only $275 Book Now! Few Spots Available Click Here: https://calendly.com/vincentwdavis/30min The Most Important Hearing In The Juvenile Dependency System Vincent W. Davis, CA Trial Lawyer https://www.FightChildProtectiveServices.com Law Offices Of Vincent W. Davis & Associates 150 N Santa Anita Ave, Ste 200 Arcadia, CA 91006 1-888 888-6582 (ph.) The disposition hearing is the most important hearing in the juvenile dependency system. Hi, my name is Vince Davis and I'm an attorney here in California. I'm an expert in representing parents and relatives in CPS and DCFS cases here in California. You know, there is something called the dispositional hearing in a juvenile dependency case and I say it's at the end of module 1 of the statutory scheme. So in a juvenile dependency case, you have the detention hearing, then you have what they do in most counties, is a receipt of the report and what they call a jurisdictional hearing which is not a trial.

And then you can set the case for what to trial either on the jurisdictional hearing, dispositional hearing, or both. Now, the most important hearing is the dispositional hearing, and here's why. At the dispositional hearing under Welfare and Institutions Code Section 361.3, the social worker must prove two things in order to keep the child away from you. Number 1, the social worker must prove that you are a substantial danger, not just a danger, but a substantial danger to the child.

And by the way, they have to prove that by clear and convincing evidence. The second thing they have to prove is they have to prove by clear and convincing evidence that there are no less restrictive alternatives. So I'm going to give you an example of what I did recently in order to win and get children back to their parents. In the first case, it was up in a Northern California County and I subpoenaed from the department or the agency or CPS the person most knowledgeable on Family Preservation Services. Now Family Preservation Services is a technical term used in federal legislation.

It's money that the Department of Health and Human Services allocates to each state, each county in order to keep families together so that children don't have to be placed in foster care. So let me give you an example. Here in LA, they have something called wraparound services and it's where a team of counselors or teachers come out to your home four days a week, five days a week to teach you how to parent the children, to give you and/or your children individual counseling. Now if someone's coming out to your house four or five days a week, they can check on your children to make sure that they're not in danger. That would be the type of service the court needs to look at in order for them to decide whether there are no less restrictive alternatives.

And the sad thing is in very few cases does the parent or the parent's attorney bring this up. So in that case in Northern California, I subpoenaed the person most knowledgeable from the department to come into court and tell us what services were available. Now, when I first served the subpoena, the county council, the attorney for the social worker, wrote me a couple I'll say unpleasant emails about that. Now, I didn't know whether they didn't want to bring in that person and they didn't have that type of person or if they just didn't want to let the secret out of the bag. But to my surprise, the person did show up. And it was obvious to me that this person had not spoken really to the social worker or the county council about the case.

So I put this person on the stand and it was a supervising social worker to tell us and to tell the judge all the services that were available to make sure children didn't have to remain in foster care. I think the county council was shocked, the minor's attorney was shocked and I think the judge was shocked to learn that all of these services are out there that nobody brought up. So you want to make sure you always subpoena that person so that you can prove that the social worker has to prove by clear convincing evidence that there are less restrictive alternatives. You're probably watching this video because you have questions and I answer questions like this every day. If you have a question, we give a free consultation. Please call us, call me at 888-888-6582, 888-888-6582. And to help us keep this channel going, please subscribe and like this video. Our staff speaks the following languages: English Se Habla Español Мы Говорим по-Русски Chinese Vietnamese Free consultation, Flexible appointments http://www.fightchildprotectiveservic..., Chat with us online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Offices near you in the following Counties: Los Angeles Orange San Bernardino Riverside Law Offices Of Vincent W. Davis & Associates 150 N Santa Anita Ave, Ste 200 Arcadia, CA 91006 (888) 888-6582 (ph.) #VinceDavis, #FightCPS, #CALawyer,