Marisa L. Gonzalez is a trial attorney with ten years of experience in criminal defense, dependency and termination of parental rights, paternity, Marchman Act petitions, insurance litigation, and Chapter 39 appeals. She was appointed in 2018 by the President of the Florida Bar to participate in the Special Committee on the Representation of Parents and Children. Ms. Gonzalez was awarded Dependency Attorney of the Year in 2018 in Tampa, Florida and has presented at the DCF Child Protection Summit on parent representation under Chapter 39 of the Florida Statutes. Her article, If You Can’t Fix It, You’ve Got to Stand It: Lofton v. Secretary of Department of Children and Family Services and the Florida Adoption Statutes Discrimination Against Homosexuals and Foster Children was published by the Whittier Journal of Child and Family Advocacy in 2008. Additionally, Ms. Gonzalez was selected from a pool of nationwide applicants to participate in a parents defense leadership workshop at the University of Michigan in 2017.