The author illustrates how the standards put forth by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) for accreditation of social work undergraduate programs specifically require that the programs “prepare graduates for generalist professional practice” and that only graduate level programming should prepare graduates for professional practice in an area of specialization. A generalist education, the author contends, is not appropriate for the competent investigation of child sex abuse cases. Two recommendations are offered: (1) undergraduate and graduate university programs should revise their training criteria for students studying child protection issues, and (2) national, State, and local training for child protection professionals in the field must be expanded so that all cases of child maltreatment, including failure to protect, are handled consistently and appropriately. Two main problems are identified as confounding the CPS investigations of failure to protect from child sexual abuse: (1) poorly trained and/or inexperienced child protection investigators may develop poor standards for substantiating failure to protect cases and otherwise respond inappropriately; and (2) undergraduate and graduate programs in the United States are not adequately preparing child protection workers to respond competently to these types of cases. Notes, references