Ellen Kaplan-Crawford was born in Queens, New York and grew up in Long Island, New York. She received her Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing from Suny at Buffalo in 1984. Since receiving her degree, she has worked extensively in the field of Labor & Delivery and taught childbirth classes. Ms Kaplan-Crawford moved to Florida in 1986 where she furthered her education in the field of Law. Ms Kaplan-Crawford graduated from Nova Southeastern School of Law in 1990 and is currently a partner at the law firm of Segal & Kaplan, P.A. in Coral Springs, Florida. Ellen Kaplan-Crawford is married to Christopher Crawford. In 1999, the Crawfords gave birth to their first son, Kyle Crawford followed shortly thereafter by the birth of their second son, Spencer Crawford in the year 2000. Spencer was born with a congenital heart defect known at Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, had 3 open heart surgeries; including a heart transplant underwent many medical procedures and hospitalizations in his short, but full, 22 months of life. Recognizing a void in the services available to children diagnosed with a life threatening illness and their families, Ms Kaplan-Crawford serves as an Advisor to the State of Florida Partners in Care-Together for Kids Pediatric Palliative Care Program and is the Chairperson of the Palm Beach County Advisory Council for the Partners In Care-Together For Kids Pediatric Palliative Care Project. Ms Kaplan-Crawford lectures frequently to health care practitioners on the parents perspective of having a terminally ill child. Ms Kaplan-Crawford and her husband, Chris, are also the proud parents of Sylvie Crawford, born in the year 2004.