Through her 15 years of service in Chatham County Social Services, Jennie Kristiansen, 45, has learned the importance of serving people in need. She said it takes resilience, adaptability and focus.
“It’s important to take time to understand the challenges and stressors that individuals and families are facing in their daily lives,” Kristiansen said.
Facing those challenges earned Kristiansen the 2022 Director of the Year by the North Carolina Association of County Directors of Social Services (NCACDSS). She received the award at the NCACDSS annual directors’ meeting on May 5th in Blowing Rock.
The Chatham County Board of Commissioners recognized Kristiansen for this award at its May 16th meeting in Pittsboro.
“We are very proud of Jennie, and she is so deserving of this statewide honor,” said Chatham County Board of Commissioners Chair Karen Howard. “Jennie excels in all aspects of the director’s role, from employee relations to program knowledge to administrative functions. She approaches all these things with a high degree of integrity and commitment.”
As Social Services Director, Kristiansen oversees the work of the department as it relates to economic services and family services. The economic services program deals with assessing eligibility for federal programs such as Medicaid, child subsidies and workforce services. The family services division deals with child welfare programs and child protective services.
“Jennie manages one of the most complex budgets in the county and annually presents well-justified and thorough requests that forward the mission of the department,” said Assistant Chatham County Manager Carolyn Miller. “The budget team routinely uses her budget submissions as examples of excellence for other departments. Jennie led the Department of Social Services through the pandemic by adapting to changing circumstances quickly, with the needs of the clients and the safety and health of employees and clients as a guiding principle.”
Kristiansen has served as the director of Chatham County Social Services for eight years. She said was honored to receive the award but was quick to divert the honor to other members of her team.
“All I can say is that I work with really good people,” she told the News + Record. She added she believes her work makes an important impact on the lives of vulnerable populations. “I have been really fortunate during my time in this role to have had the opportunity to learn from people here locally and at the state level through committee work and related initiatives.”
Her committee work includes serving as a member of the Human Services Collaborative Impact Team (CIT), which is a collective of human services departments and agencies that work together to address current and emerging issues that affect the team. She is also the chair of the Community Child Protection Team, a multi-disciplinary team charged with promoting a community-wide approach to the problem of child abuse and neglect.
Through those committees, Kristiansen has developed several initiatives to streamline budget adaptations amid rising needs during the pandemic. She said the pandemic saw needs for social services skyrocket in Chatham County, especially for Medicaid programs. The growing need led Kristiansen to implement a new initiative to allow more people to remain connected to their doctors.
The updated local Medicaid program also means women are also now able to get Medicaid coverage for 12 months after giving birth and hospitals are able to electronically submit a notification of the new baby so that their coverage is automatic and families don’t experience any barriers to accessing medical care during this critical period.
Kristiansen’s work is also helping to build out future programming and updated services for the agency. That includes a new Low-Income Water Assistance Program, which assists individuals and families with water and sewer bills. She has also helped establish an expanded foster care program. She said as a former adoption social worker, ensuring Chatham’s foster care was top-notch.
“About half of the children in foster care in Chatham County are living with family or kin and we are working diligently to get families engaged in training and support,” she said. She added she wanted to ensure families have the tools needed to care for children who are facing the separation form parents and the trauma associated with it.
Through all of these programs, Kristiansen said she hopes to improve Chatham County’s social services and continue to adapt for the changing times.
“This has been really meaningful work for me, personally, as we look toward impacting the health and economic disparities experienced by many people we serve,” Kristiansen said.
Reporter Ben Rappaport can be reached at brappaport@chathamnr.com or on Twitter @b_rappaport.