Cynthia Field's article on Para-kin describes what the terms can bring to the family and community. link: southkingstown.patch.com/articles/on-love...

Debra L. Chernick, Esq. was recently featured in an article by  the RI Bar Association about the origin and usage of the para-kin terminology.  Below is an excerpt from the Rhode Island Bar Journal Source: Rhode Island Bar Association Volume 59. Number 4. January/February 2011 |   Download Excerpt page 39 here Attorney Debra L. Chernick sat in a local hospital emergency room, anxiously trying to finish the formality of intake...

The founder of Para-kin was recently featured in a five part interview on www.examiner.com Interview links are below. » Part One: Para-kin Interview » Part Two: Para-kin Interview » Part Three: Para-kin Interview » Part Four: Para-kin Interview » Part Five: Para-kin Interview [widgets_on_pages]...

I love my daughter, and now I’m in love with my beautiful grandson. They are my daughter and grandson because I refuse to refer to them as “step” people.  The only “steps” in our house are at the front door.  But the fact of the matter is, there are times when a need for an explanation of our families situation exists, and the idea that I have admit to this “step” situation has always hurt me. That’s why I was elated to learn...

... so there I was tonight.. at an opening for a local art gallery. The female manager, in her late thirties,  comes over and says, "I hear you are working on a new term.. something called Para-Kin." I acknowledge this and she says.. "Well, I have been with my partner for 15 years and I think its crazy to introduce him as my boyfriend but I respect those couples who have turned to a more traditional marriage so I don't want to call him my...

i think.. if you're lucky enough to have found & formed a new family..  whether you happen to be of the same gender.. or of the opposite sex- you've found u'r para-wife, para-husband, u'r para spouse. most importantly.. it should be legally recognized. if it is true..and, if it is real. and, if the relationship is dedicated. people all cry for definition, recognition & a place of comfortable acceptability.. para- is...

I don’t know what to call her the mother of my son’s three children. Nothing sounds right; all the words too awkward.  Not a wife.  Not a lover. Significant other, too cumbersome Partner... unfitting for their union. Para-wife, I reply. What’s that? Para means almost.  Almost wife. Just as good as. Might as well be, Pete says, and the conversation goes on as that teaching moment comes and leaves us, him...