The Maryam Parman Foundation for Children is a California nonprofit public benefit corporation providing customized medical aid to children without resources. Through her work as a personal injury attorney, our Founder sees that oftentimes catastrophically injured children do not receive the compensation they need to cover their medical expenses and necessary future medical care. When MPFC first started accepting applications, our Executive Director found that there were many more children in need of our services beyond those who were injured by auto and sports accidents. We found that children who were victims of abuse, and born with illnesses such as, cerebral palsy, autism, and rare genetic disorders, struggled to afford the care they needed as well. We learned that too often, health insurance does not cover the type of therapy and other services that these children can hugely benefit from.
Due to this discovery, we expanded our vision and created a broader scope of children that the foundation helps. MPFC accepts applications for children with a wide variety of medical issues and treats each child on a case-by-case basis. This sets our foundation apart as we are in a unique position to be able to help more than one issue and provide aid in various ways by accessing each child and their needs. The heart of helping children recover from life altering medical diagnosis remains the same as Maryam’s original vision. MPFC is dedicated to changing the lives of children and their families.
The Maryam Parman Foundation for Children is a California nonprofit public benefit corporation providing customized medical aid to children without resources. Through her work as a personal injury attorney, our Founder sees that oftentimes catastrophically injured children do not receive the compensation they need to cover their medical expenses and necessary future medical care. When MPFC first started accepting applications, our Executive Director found that there were many more children in need of our services beyond those who were injured by auto and sports accidents. We found that children who were victims of abuse, and born with illnesses such as, cerebral palsy, autism, and rare genetic disorders, struggled to afford the care they needed as well. We learned that too often, health insurance does not cover the type of therapy and other services that these children can hugely benefit from.
Due to this discovery, we expanded our vision and created a broader scope of children that the foundation helps. MPFC accepts applications for children with a wide variety of medical issues and treats each child on a case-by-case basis. This sets our foundation apart as we are in a unique position to be able to help more than one issue and provide aid in various ways by accessing each child and their needs. The heart of helping children recover from life altering medical diagnosis remains the same as Maryam’s original vision. MPFC is dedicated to changing the lives of children and their families.
Taylor Smith earned her Bachelor’s Degree from the University of California, Irvine, and began her career in personal injury law, where she worked for four years before pursuing her Juris Doctor at Whittier Law School. During law school, she earned a Certificate in Children and Family Law and spent two semesters in the Special Education Clinic, advocating for children with special needs.
Her passion for service deepened as she led Whittier Law School’s Public Interest Law Foundation for two years, inspiring her commitment to nonprofit work. After earning her Juris Doctor and becoming a member of the California Bar, Taylor practiced civil litigation representing public entities before transitioning to the non-profit sector.
Outside of work, Taylor enjoys spending time with her family, friends, and animals. She loves playing soccer, snowboarding, and traveling whenever she can.
Executive Director
Taylor Smith is the Executive Director of MPFC and oversees the day-to-day activities of the organization. As the main point of contact for our Board of Directors and our children’s families, she ensures that our foundation is running smoothly.
Taylor Smith earned her Bachelor’s Degree from the University of California, Irvine, and began her career in personal injury law, where she worked for four years before pursuing her Juris Doctor at Whittier Law School. During law school, she earned a Certificate in Children and Family Law and spent two semesters in the Special Education Clinic, advocating for children with special needs.
Her passion for service deepened as she led Whittier Law School’s Public Interest Law Foundation for two years, inspiring her commitment to nonprofit work. After earning her Juris Doctor and becoming a member of the California Bar, Taylor practiced civil litigation representing public entities before transitioning to the non-profit sector.
Outside of work, Taylor enjoys spending time with her family, friends, and animals. She loves playing soccer, snowboarding, and traveling whenever she can.
Director of Marketing & Fundraising
Ashley Roberts is the Director of Marketing and Fundraising. She is the brains behind our newsletters, blogs, emails, and social media. She also helps create fundraising campaigns and collaborates with our Executive Director to coordinate our annual events.
Ashley received her Bachelors Degree in English from University of California, Los Angeles. After graduation, she worked as a case manager for a personal injury law firm. It is there that she saw firsthand the hardships that families go through after suffering serious injuries from accidents. She continued her career at a tech company in Irvine where she acquired marketing and social media knowledge. In her free time, she enjoys traveling, hiking, working out, and spending time with her family and friends.
Grant Writer
Kristin Leaf serves as our Grant Writer, responsible for researching, writing, and submitting grant proposals, as well as cultivating relationships with foundation, corporate, and government funders.
Kristin holds both a B.A. and M.A. in History from the University of California, Los Angeles. After completing graduate school, she spent over a decade as a college professor, teaching introductory courses in Western Civilization and World History to students from diverse backgrounds—many of whom were the first in their families to attend college. Driven by a desire to continue making a meaningful impact, Kristin transitioned to the nonprofit sector as a grant writer. Her work reflects her deep commitment to equity, education, and community engagement.
President
Maryam Parman is the President of our Board of Directors. She also serves as the Chairperson of the Board and is the founder of our organization.
By the time Maryam entered law school at Western University, she knew what she wanted to do once she got her Juris Doctor. As an undergraduate studying pre-med at the University of California, Irvine, she’d developed an awareness of human injury and knew that she wanted to help people who have been physically harmed, especially children. She decided she would be able to help children by becoming a lawyer. Since launching her career in 1998, Maryam has done just that by focusing her practice solely on assisting injured people in recovering from these terrible injuries. Maryam’s own practice continues to focus solely on injury and death cases resulting from automobile accidents, premises liability, products liability, elder abuse, police brutality, animal attacks, and construction-site accidents. She has achieved numerous significant results for her clients. In her spare time, Maryam enjoys spending time with her young son, exercising, and reading about new legal developments in personal injury.
Director
Gerald Klein serves as our Secretary of our Board of Directors. Gerald is responsible for overseeing the management of the foundation and dedicates his time and expertise to our mission.
Mr. Klein represents both plaintiffs and defendants in business litigation, legal malpractice, real estate, trade secrets, unfair competition, and insurance bad faith. He has also served as an expert witness in legal malpractice matters. Mr. Klein obtained his Juris Doctor Degree from the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law in 1982 and graduated magna cum laude from one of the flagship state universities in New York. During law school, Mr. Klein received the Russell P. Serber Memorial Scholarship.
In addition to being a full time trial lawyer, Mr. Klein also has taught college level courses on the law for the University of California and California State University Long Beach. Mr. Klein taught trial practice at the University of California, Irvine School of Law, in the fall of 2014. He has also given dozens of seminars to the largest law firms in the country on multimedia trial presentations. Mr. Klein’s trial based presentation skills are so widely recognized that the Association of Business Trial Lawyers asked Mr. Klein to serve as one of the faculty in its annual seminar on the Art of Story Telling. In addition to speaking on legal subjects, Mr. Klein has also written numerous articles which have appeared in prominent legal publications, including an article accepted by the California State Bar for the continuing education of the bar.
Mr. Klein attributes his success in the courtroom to his experience as a champion high school wrestler. “I learned a lot from wrestling. I learned that what happens on the day of the match is not as much about what happened that day but, rather, it is about what happened in the months of preparation leading up to the event. Winning depends less upon who is stronger but more upon who is better prepared and more determined to win. Most importantly, I learned I hate to lose.”
Mr. Klein volunteers his time serving on the Board of Directors for the Maryam Parman Foundation for Children and believes that no child should be left without the best resources to meet their full potential.
Stay Up To Date
MPFC is honored to receive a $55,000 unrestricted grant from the Samueli Foundation’s Breakaway Fund. This transformative support will strengthen our systems, empower our team, and expand our capacity to serve more children and families in need. With this investment, we’re building a stronger foundation to reach more kids—more effectively and with lasting impact.
MPFC now accepts donor-advised fund (DAF) gifts! A DAF is a simple, tax-smart way to support children living with disabilities. Your gift funds therapy, medical devices, and home modifications—helping kids gain independence and brighter futures. Recommend a DAF grant to MPFC today and make an impact.
The 2025 NAPA SB Pop-Up brought three weeks of transformative therapy to 16 children with disabilities. Hosted at the Grace Fisher Clubhouse, families saw incredible progress thanks to NAPA Center, MPFC, and generous community support. From first steps to first words, the impact will last a lifetime. Read the full recap and testimonials here.
