Professor Wilson, who is an expert in family law, was invited by the Institute of Advanced Family Studies (IESF) to take part in a research seminar and give a talk to the university's Law students. The visit took place on Wednesday, 29 April 2015, and provided an opportunity to establish an agreement for potential exchanges between the two institutions.
According to Professor Wilson, in the United States, the explosion in the number of children born outside marriage means that the most common family scenario is for children to live with just one parent and, very probably, with that parent's current and successive partners. This new and increasingly common situation creates problems with regard to the presumption of legitimacy, as well as making it harder to prevent cases of incest and protect the child during the adoption process.
Professor Wilson is the Director of the Family Law and Policy Program at the University of Illinois, where she specializes in matters related to health, education, biomedical ethics, law and violence. She has published seven books on these subjects, including Reconceiving the Family: Critical Reflections on the American Law Institute's Principles of the Law of Family Dissolution; The Handbook of Children, Culture & Violence; and Same-Sex Marriage and Religious Liberty. Her articles have appeared in a number of prestigious publications, including the Boston College Law Review, Cornell Law Review and Emory Law Journal, along with a range of scientific journals.
Professor Wilson is also a member of the American Law Institute and in 2014 was elected a member of the Executive Council of the International Society of Family Law. Her work includes efforts to reform state law in Utah, with the aim of approving a law to ensure equal rights for LGBT citizens and religious minorities. In 2007 she received the Citizen’s Legislative Award for her work on changing Virginia’s law on informed consent.
Her session at the UIC was titled “The Risks of Children in Non-Traditional Families".
