About Kith & Kin
Kith and kin: the people you choose, and the people you come from.
It is an old phrase for friends and family. We chose it because the families we serve are built from both: spouses and partners, donors who are also friends, surrogates who become part of the story, stepparents, grandparents and chosen family.
Kith & Kin is a small Oakland firm that does one thing. We make sure the people raising a child are recognized as that child's parents by law, and we help families through the hard days when that recognition is questioned.
Our values
Three habits we hold each other to, and that you can hold us to as well.
-
Inclusive by default
Every family shape, every gender, every way a child arrives. We ask for the names and titles you use and we use them, in every email and on every document we can.
-
Plain and precise
Legal words explained the first time they appear. Exact about what California requires, and exact about what we don't know yet.
-
Honest about limits
No promised outcomes or dates, no matching, no paid placements, no representing both sides of an agreement. If we are not the right firm, we say so.
Why we started
A presumption is not a court order.
Before Kith & Kin, Maren Okafor worked at a general family law firm. Again and again she met parents who had been told they would be fine without a court order, often because they were married. Then a separation, a move or a hospital form proved otherwise.
She opened this firm in 2014 to do the careful work up front: adoptions, parentage judgments and agreements that hold up wherever a family goes. Teo, Jules and Priya joined because they wanted to do the same work the same way.
Most of our clients are LGBTQ+. Many are not. All of them want plain answers and a lawyer who uses the right words without being asked.
- 2014 Founded
- 4 Attorneys
- 4 Languages English, Spanish, Tagalog, Tamil
- CA State of practice Local counsel elsewhere
Limits
What we will not do
Some promises are kept by saying no. These five apply to every family, every time.
- Find, match or introduce children, birth parents, surrogates or donors
- Arrange, broker or pay for a placement
- Represent both sides of a surrogacy or donor agreement
- Promise an outcome, a judge or a date
- Pay or accept referral fees
Our mission
Every child's parents recognized by law, in words the family chose, before anyone has to ask.
- MO Maren Okafor
- TB Teo Barrientos
- JW Jules Whitcombe
- PR Priya Raman
Free 20-minute call
Let's make your family legally whole.
Start with a free 20-minute call. You will leave it knowing which path fits, what California asks of you, and what a flat fee usually looks like. No pressure and no promises we can't keep.
Prefer to text? (510) 555-0163. Dee replies within one business day.