The European Society for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry evolved from the Union of European Paedopsychiatrists (UEP) which held its first meeting in October 1954 in Magglingen/Switzerland. The UEP held several conferences during the following years until the official foundation of the UEP in September 1960 in Paris, France. The organization changed its name twice: in 1982, to European Association for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and after the congress in Lausanne (1983), to European Society for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (ESCAP. www.escap.eu). Today it has members from 32 countries. The goals of ESCAP are to foster European knowledge and skills in child psychiatry, to spread the results of research and clinical experience, and to collaborate with international organizations in policies aimed at increasing quality of life among children and families.