<img src="/site/files/oldnewsfiles/FamilyHealthLawPolicyInstitute235px.jpg" width="235" height="200" class="FloatRight" alt="FamilyHealthLawPolicyInstitute235px">Widener University School of Law in Delaware has launched a new academic institute dedicated to education, and to the reform of laws and policies relating to the intersection of families and their health.<br><br>The Family Health Law and Policy Institute will focus on a range of critically important issues, including child welfare, intimate partner violence, family economic laws, elder law, human rights, reproductive justice, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights and more. <br><br>The institute is co-directed by Professors <a href="/Academics/Faculty/ProfilesDe/CulhaneJohnG.aspx">John G. Culhane</a>, <a href="/Academics/Faculty/ProfilesDe/KellyAliciaBrokars.aspx">Alicia B. Kelly</a> and Associate Professor <a href="/Academics/Faculty/ProfilesDe/HarringtonConnerDana.aspx">Dana Harrington Conner</a>. It will serve as a collaborative think tank and reform and service organization, through innovative scholarship with real-world relevance. It will offer students specialized education and legal training as well as service learning opportunities through legal representation and abundant opportunities for community engagement. <br><br>“The institute is a force for policy development that will enhance the health and welfare of families,” Kelly said.<br><br>The institute will gather together leading thinkers, policymakers and practitioners in family health law and policy to work collectively on reforming the field and promoting family health. <br><br>“As in any area of law – or life – there’s a natural tendency for academics and practitioners in health or family law to focus on their specialties in silos,” Culhane said. “This institute will be a force for bringing these two dynamic disciplines together.”<br><br> “We are really focused on improving our community in a way that ensures better health outcomes for families,” Harrington Conner added.<br><br>The school will celebrate the institute launch with an event <b>Tuesday, Oct. 14 from 6 to 7:30 p.m.</b> in the Barristers’ Club on the Widener Law Delaware campus at 4601 Concord Pike, Wilmington. The program, “Family Health Law and Economic Relationships Among Multiple Generations in Families,” will feature the three co-directors speaking about family health law as a field, followed by an in-depth program where Kelly will speak about intergenerational economic relationships.<br><br>Attorneys from Delaware and Pennsylvania who attend will be eligible for 1.5 continuing legal education credits. Attorneys from New Jersey may self report with a Widener Law Delaware certificate of attendance. There is no cost to attend. To register, contact Carol Perrupato at <a href="mailto:caperrupato@widener.edu">caperrupato@widener.edu</a> or 302.477.2178.<br><br>The program is the first public function for the institute, whose ambitious agenda also includes convening a board of advisors, presenting a major symposium on intimate partner violence in the spring of 2015 and building a roster of affiliated scholars and activists who will be invited to collaborate on scholarly and community-related initiatives.<br><br> The institute also offers a certificate program for students who want concentrated legal training, including field experience, in areas relating to family law, health law and the intersection of these two fields. In addition to specific coursework, students will fulfill a required experiential learning component involving either Widener Law Delaware’s Medical-Legal Partnership, Delaware Civil Law Clinic, Veterans Law Clinic or another qualifying externship. <br><br>For more information about the institute, visit its <a href="/Academics/Institutes/HealthLawInstitute.aspx">web page</a>.