SB Juvenile Dependency
Court Guide

The Juvenile Dependency Court sits at 860 East Gilbert Street in San Bernardino, on the same county juvenile campus as the delinquency court but in its own building. People mix the two up constantly, and the mix-up matters: showing up at the wrong Gilbert Street address can cost a hearing.

Dependency cases are brought under Welfare and Institutions Code §300 by San Bernardino County Children and Family Services. The question before the judge is whether a child has been abused or neglected, whether the child can safely remain at home, and if not, where the child lives while the parents work a reunification plan. No one is prosecuted here. There is no defendant, no charge, and no bail.

That is worth stating plainly because a dependency petition often lands in the same week as an arrest. A domestic violence, DUI, or drug arrest can trigger a referral, and suddenly a family is dealing with two courthouses at once. They are separate proceedings on separate calendars with separate lawyers, and what happens in one does not automatically resolve the other — though outcomes in a criminal case are frequently noticed by the dependency judge.

Our involvement is narrow and we will not pretend it is broader. If a parent is in custody on an adult criminal matter, they cannot attend a detention, jurisdiction, or six-month review hearing here, and missed appearances cost parents ground in reunification. Posting that adult bond — set under the standard California framework described on the San Bernardino County page, including Penal Code §1275's inquiry into the source of bail — is the one thing we can do that changes anything on Gilbert Street.

Official court information: Superior Court of San Bernardino County — Juvenile Dependency