The National Council on Family Relations, in its October issue of Family Relations: Interdisciplinary Journal of Applied Family Studies, published a ground-breaking article in the field of family life education "Reconceptualizing the Domain and Boundaries of Family Life Education." Authors are Judith A. Myers-Walls from Purdue University, Sharon M. Ballard from East Carolina University, Carol Anderson Darling from Florida State University and Karen S. Myers-Bowman from Kansas State University. This work sets forth a new model to illustrate how family life education is unique from the fields of family therapy and social work case management.

Many scholars have defined family life education (FLE) and some have differentiated it from other family-related fields. In this article, the authors explore the professions of family life education, family therapy and family case management. This new model defines family life education as unique yet collaborative among the ways in which professionals serve families.

Glen Palm, Professor of Child and Family Studies at St. Cloud State University and former NCFR Board member, had this comment about the significance of the article: "It is a breakthrough in clarifying the FLE role and establishing distinct boundaries with both family therapy and family casework. This work opens doors for needed collaboration among family practitioners. The shift from a hierarchical model to a collaborative model distinguishes the unique role and skill set of family life educators in relationship to other family service providers."

Family Relations: Interdisciplinary Journal of Applied Family Studies is accessible to members of the National Council on Family Relations at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/.  You can join NCFR at http://www.ncfr.org/membership.

In 1985, NCFR instituted the professional standards for delivering family life education and established the Certified Family Life Educator (CFLE) credential. There are now over 1500 CFLEs internationally and 125 colleges and universities offering CFLE-approved coursework.

The National Council on Family Relations is the nation's premier professional association for the multidisciplinary understanding of families. NCFR has a membership of over 3500 family researchers, practitioners and educators. For more information on the National Council on Family Relations or its scholarly publications, contact NCFR at 1-888-781-9331 or visit its website at www.ncfr.org