Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology

The Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology (SCCAP) is an academic and professional society in the United States that was established to encourage the development and advancement of clinical child and adolescent psychology through integration of its scientific and professional aspects. The division promotes scientific inquiry, training, professional practice, and public policy in clinical child and adolescent psychology as a means of improving the welfare and mental health of children, youth, and families.
In the service of these goals, the Society promotes the general objectives of the American Psychological Association, and is listed as Division 53.
History.
The society first appeared in the American Psychological Association as a section under the division of clinical psychology (Division 12) in 1962. As research in child development and behavior analysis progressed, the need for specialized training for clinical psychology students became more urgent. Conferences were held in the mid-1980s onward to discuss the material needed to treat children. By the next decade, Division 12 considered the possibility of clinical child psychology becoming its own division; and after a vote of the section members, the APA Council created the Division of Clinical Child Psychology (Division 53) in 1999. John Weisz became the first Division President the following year and the division went through a name change the year after that and maintains that title to the present day.