Special education and Section 504 advocates for Broward County Public Schools families in Fort Lauderdale.
3 based in Florida · 3 virtual advocates who work with Florida schools
An IEP advocate goes to school meetings with you and argues for services your child is not getting.
Parents in Fort Lauderdale usually start looking for an advocate when a meeting is already on the calendar.
Before the meeting an advocate reads the current IEP against the evaluation reports, pulls the progress data to see whether the goals are actually being met, writes your concerns into one page, and sends it to the team in advance.
Records live with Broward County Public Schools, not with the front office of one building, and a request addressed to the district gets a faster answer than one that is not.
No advocate in this directory lists Fort Lauderdale as their home base. These advocates work from other parts of Florida, and each card names the city.
Based in Wesley Chapel, FL
Special Education Advocate
With 24 years of experience in the K-12 sector, I serves as a Student Support Specialist specializing in academic and behavioral ESE services.
Based in Leesburg, FL
CEO IEP Advocate Espanol
Evelyn Roman-Santos is a bilingual Special Education Advocate with 30 years of experience as a School Social Worker.
Based in Hialeah, FL
Advocate
I look forward to helping families and their students get the crucial support they need. I have varied experience working with families and educators at the state and local levels.
These advocates are not based in Florida. They join IEP meetings by video or phone, which IDEA allows when you and the school agree.
Virtual · based in Hawthorne, NJ · works with Florida schools
IEP Consultant, School Social Worker, Advocacy
I am a Child Study Team School Social Worker, with a Master of Social Work from Fordham University. I have core competencies in special education law, mental health, and behavioral health.
Virtual · based in Leonardtown, MD · works with Florida schools
Special Education Advocate
Douglas Hubscher is the Founder and President of Kids Are First, LLC, a special education advocacy firm dedicated to helping families navigate the IEP and 504 process with confidence, clarity, and…
Virtual · based in Newcastle, OK · works with Florida schools
Special Education Advocate - IEP Consultant
Former special education teacher and educational advocate with experience on both sides of the IEP table.
Broward County Public Schools met 46 of 65 state special education indicators in the most recent Florida report.
District lines and city lines are not the same thing. A street can sit inside one city and be zoned to the district next door.
Confirm your child's district by address before you send a letter or name a district-specific process.
A written request for an evaluation starts a second clock in Florida, and the district has to answer inside 30 days.
Keep every email. Most of what an advocate does with a Fort Lauderdale file is date-stamping what the school already told you.
Florida gives a school district 60 calendar days to finish an initial special education evaluation. A written request for an evaluation has to be answered inside 30 days. Missed deadlines are handled by the Florida Department of Education, Bureau of Exceptional Education and Student Services, which takes written state complaints from parents.
Attorneys are licensed. Advocates hold no license, and the difference matters most when a case gets close to a hearing, which is the point where the Fort Lauderdale district starts talking to its own lawyer.
A certificate says nothing about Broward County Public Schools. Ask instead what the advocate has filed there and what came back.
Advocates are not attorneys. No advocate in Fort Lauderdale can file a lawsuit for you or give you legal advice about the case.
What worked for a family in Pembroke Pines may not fit yours. Ask the advocate what is different about your file before you copy anyone.
Video is normal now. 24 of the advocates listed for Fort Lauderdale work with families by phone or video instead of driving to the school.
Distance is a scheduling problem and not a legal one. Meetings run by video whenever the parent and the school both agree to it.
Answers about hiring a special education advocate in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, including cost, timing, virtual support, and Section 504 help.
What is the hourly rate for a parent advocate?
Rates run $75 to $250 per hour. What moves the number is experience, the type of case, and whether anyone has to drive to the meeting. Profiles here show the rate when the advocate publishes one.
When should I hire a special education advocate in Fort Lauderdale?
Most parents call after a school says no to testing, after goals repeat unchanged for a year, or a week before an annual review. Earlier is cheaper. An advocate hired the night before a meeting can only read so much.
Does Broward County Public Schools cover every Fort Lauderdale address?
Most Fort Lauderdale families work with Broward County Public Schools. Charter and magnet enrollment can change which agency owes the service, so ask that question before the first meeting.
Does Fort Lauderdale have a good special education program?
46 of 65 indicators met. Read that as a compliance signal rather than a rating, because a district can meet the indicator and still miss the service your child needs.
What can I do if I cannot afford an advocate?
Free guidance exists. Parent centers, disability rights agencies and local parent groups all give it, and none of them will attend the meeting as your representative.
Official Florida links for parents in Fort Lauderdale.
Last reviewed 2026-08-11.
The same Florida rules apply in Pembroke Pines, Tallahassee, Cape Coral, Hollywood and the other cities listed here, or see every Florida advocate.
Start with two calls, not six. Ask each advocate what they would do first with a Fort Lauderdale file, and hire the one whose answer is specific enough that you could write it down as a task.
Two questions sort most of this out. What would you do first with this file, and what does that cost.
