Child removed or detention hearing within 72 hours? Call now: 949-209-5033
Child removed or detention hearing within 72 hours? Call now: 949-209-5033
A social worker is calling, knocking, or asking to interview your child. You have not been charged with anything. You may not even know what triggered the investigation. But what happens in these first hours, what you say, what you sign, who you let in, will determine whether this stays an investigation or becomes a court case with your children's futures on the line.
You do not have to navigate this alone. And you should not guess your way through it.
Get help with a CPS investigation →Most parents in a CPS investigation believe one of two things: either this is clearly serious and they are terrified, or this is a misunderstanding that will be resolved once they explain themselves. Neither of those beliefs produces a good outcome.
The investigation stage is where social workers build their file. It is where your words, even casual ones, even cooperative ones, get written into reports that follow your case into court. It is where "voluntary" agreements get offered and signed. It is where children get interviewed at school without parents present, and where the agency's subjective internal risk assessment decides whether a petition gets filed.
A WIC 300 petition does not come out of nowhere. It comes out of an investigation that was not defended. The parents who do best at this stage are the ones who understand the rules before the social worker shows up again, not after.
These are the four most common mistakes we see, each of them avoidable, and each of them capable of turning a manageable investigation into a filed petition.
Social workers are trained to be warm, conversational, and patient. They are not your ally. They are building a record. Every statement you make, including statements you believe are helpful, clarifying, or exonerating, is documented, interpreted, and can appear verbatim in a WIC 300 petition.
Important: You are not legally required to answer a social worker's questions without an attorney. You have the right to have an attorney present before any formal interview.
A safety plan looks like cooperation. It is framed as a way to show good faith and avoid escalation. What it actually is: a non-court-ordered agreement that can require you to leave your own home, stop seeing your partner, or submit to services, with no hearing, no judge, and no attorney at the table.
Important: Safety plans are not court orders. You are not legally required to sign one. Anything you agree to in a safety plan can be used as evidence if a petition is later filed. Do not sign anything before speaking with an attorney.
CPS will often ask for a signed medical records release, framed as a routine step to close the case faster. What this actually authorizes is agency access to your complete medical history, including mental health treatment, substance use history, prescriptions, and any records that have no connection to the alleged concern.
Important: A blanket HIPAA release is not required. Signing one gives the agency a roadmap into every area of your private history. Do not sign it without an attorney reviewing the scope.
Cooperation is a disposition. It is not a defense. Parents who answer every question, sign every form, and open every room of their home to the agency are still having their children removed every single day. Being polite and being strategic are not the same thing.
Important: Strategy means knowing what you are required to do, what you are not, and what each choice costs you downstream. That is what an attorney is for, and at this stage it is far less expensive to get it right than to repair it later.
What happens in the next 24 to 48 hours can change everything. If a social worker is calling, knocking, or asking to interview your child, do not guess your way through it. Tell us what happened so we can help you understand your next move.
Get help with a CPS investigation →Most CPS attorneys enter a case after the WIC 300 petition has already been filed and a detention hearing is scheduled. By then, the investigation record exists and the agency's narrative is set. We enter earlier.
Most parents do not know this: you have the right to have an attorney present during a CPS investigation interview. When you retain KALI CPS Lawyer at the investigation stage, we are there, in the room, on the call, or present at the meeting, so that every question asked and every answer given is managed by someone who knows exactly what the agency can and cannot do with what you say.
A social worker who knows you have legal representation conducts an investigation differently. That is the point.
A paid session to review your situation and give you legal guidance. Applied toward your legal fees if you retain the firm.
Flat fee, starting at $5,000, covering the investigation stage. Call, ask questions, and raise concerns without watching a clock.
The $5,000 is credited in full toward full dependency representation. You are not starting over.
The flat fee matters for a practical reason. It means you can call, ask questions, and raise concerns without calculating what it costs to pick up the phone. If something comes up, a new contact from the agency, a document that arrives in the mail, a question at 9pm, you reach out. That is what the fee covers.
If the investigation results in a WIC 300 petition and dependency court, your attorney already knows your case, the social worker, the allegations, and your family. That continuity is not incidental. It is a strategic advantage when the clock is running.
We will tell you honestly what your situation looks like and what we believe it requires.
Get help with a CPS investigation →Keshia Adeniyi-Dorsey grew up in Los Angeles County's foster system. She knows what it feels like to be a child whose life is decided in a courtroom by adults who have never met you, inside a system that too often overlooks a family's strengths and undervalues the sacred bond between parent and child.
She also knows what it looks like from the other side of the table, because she is the attorney sitting in that courtroom now. She founded K. Adeniyi Law, APC, the practice behind KALI CPS Lawyer, because she understands this system from the inside and now fights it from the courtroom. Her work is personal, but it is also strategic. She brings lived experience, courtroom training, and trial attorney discipline to every family she represents. She is also one of only two CPS attorneys nationwide to graduate from the Gerry Spence Trial Lawyers College, bringing rare trial-lawyer training to family defense.
Her practice is built on one principle most CPS attorneys will not say out loud: the government does not get unchecked power over your family. Parents deserve a lawyer who will test the CPS narrative, protect their rights, and fight for family integrity, not simply guide them toward the outcome the system prefers.
Whether a social worker knocked this morning or you received a call this week, tell us what happened. You will leave that conversation knowing exactly where you stand and what your next move is.
We respond right away and you will speak to an attorney within one business day, sooner if you are being investigated. If your situation is urgent, call directly.
949-209-5033About two minutes. Confidential. Reaches Keshia and our team before you dial.
Someone from K. Adeniyi Law will follow up using the phone number and email you gave us.
If a social worker is contacting you now, or you have a hearing within 72 hours, do not wait for our reply. Call 949-209-5033.
The next step is a paid strategy session, $297, applied toward your legal fees if you retain the firm.
Submitting this form does not create an attorney-client relationship, and you should not send confidential or time-sensitive information through it. If a social worker is at your door right now, call 949-209-5033 instead of waiting on a form response.
A California family defense practice for parents in Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, and Riverside Counties.
K. Adeniyi Law, APC
Orange County Office18650 MacArthur Blvd, Suite 300
Irvine, CA 92612
5800 S. Eastern Ave., Suite 500
Commerce, CA 90040