Maria Bates, BA, JD, LLM
Founder
Maria Bates founded the Special Needs Advocacy Training and Consulting Program to help serve other families who have also experienced the joys and hurdles of being a special needs family. Maria received her B.A. in Human Development with a minor in Latin American Studies from Eckerd College in 1997, her J.D. from Stetson University College of Law in 2007, and her LLM in Business Law from Florida State University in 2021.
Maria was born in Alaska to homesteading parents, with much of her childhood spent in West Virginia and Florida. Maria first started her career as a counselor for teenagers dealing with addictions and mental health issues. She then transitioned to special projects consulting where she designed systems, new departments, policies and procedures, and strategic plans. She also worked on unique events and projects including fundraising for a political campaign.
Maria went back to law school at 30 and started a nonprofit adoption and children's agency while finishing law school. As executive director, she provided counseling, wrote home studies, matched families both in private infant adoptions and also older children matches from foster care. She then started her own law firm and for over 15 years now has provided family formation and protection legal services, as well as nonprofit law and organizational development.
Maria is committed to serving people from a place of passion, knowledge, and experience. - having built her own family through adoption as a single parent, raising a child with twice exceptionalities and serving as an expert in the arena of special needs.
Maria is actively involved in community organizations and pro bono work. Maria is a member of the Florida and DC Bars and has served as an advisory board member to the Florida Adoption Information Center for many years. She has also provided commentary and specialized trainings on adoption interventions, foster care adoptions, special needs children, and other family and community focused issues.
When Maria isn’t working, she is spending time with her four wild and wonderful children. Her family is her greatest joy and she doesn't believe she would be the person she is today without her experiences as a mother. Maria loves helping people along their journeys and believes that we need to empower and support special needs families so that our children and their caregivers, extended family, and siblings thrive.
LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariatbates/