Los Angeles, CA personal injury lawyer Carly Sanchez talks about why abuse continues to happen in foster care settings. She explains that at this point, we have dealt with a significant number of cases involving children who have been mistreated or neglected in the foster care or dependency system. We have observed similar patterns recurring in all these cases. One crucial aspect that we have noticed is that when social workers receive a call reporting child abuse or neglect, they tend to approach it like a checklist. They are required to conduct certain activities such as interviewing the child and talking to the reporting party. However, there seems to be a lack of common sense in the way investigations are carried out. For instance, while interviewing the child, social workers sometimes do it in the presence of the alleged abuser. As a result, the child may fail to reveal any abuse, and the social worker may assume that the child is not being abused. This disconnect indicates that more common sense is needed when investigating child abuse. We need to focus on understanding the core of the problem and determining what the child requires to be safe.