As of Jan. 1, 2020, North Dakota’s 43 social service offices will be replaced with 19 human service zones. By April 1, 2020, these new zones must hire directors and then submit their zone plans to the state by June 2020.

A major change like this is not easy but is a wise move if it means providing better and more consistent service to clients statewide.

There’s another benefit to the restructuring of the state’s social service system. It is expected to eventually reduce costs.

Ward County and other counties with a population 60,000 or more have the option to create a stand-alone zone under this new system. Ward along with Grand Forks, Cass and Burleigh – counties eligible for a stand-alone zone – plan to do so. Some counties are making plans to merge to form new human service districts by the January deadline.

The intent with the new human service districts is no staff layoffs or pay cuts but not as many social service directors. With fewer directors needed, some current directors will move into other jobs in the human service system. This would happen along with having more specialty positions. Currently, a social service worker in a rural county with limited staff must be knowledgeable about multiple programs and may not have the client base in any particular program or the time to develop an expertise. Under the new plan, specialists would cover a larger area and provide higher level expertise in areas such as home and community-based care or economic assistance related to long-term care.

No elimination of any existing office is being talked about in the Minot region. Rather, keeping or increasing public access to services has been the goal. Creating a more unified system across the state also is a positive step in increasing access because it enables members of the public to receive services at any office, even if outside the zones in which they live.

These are big changes for the state’s social service employees, who can be commended for their can-do attitudes in the face of the major restructuring affecting their jobs.

Kelly Jensen, director for Northern Prairie Social Services, a district created with the merger of Bottineau, Pierce and McHenry counties social services, said in a story by Senior Staff Writer Jill Schramm, published in Monday’s Minot Daily News, “We are all in this together and it’s happening. Either we jump on board and make it work – because we can – or have the attitude this isn’t going to work, and that has not been the case here.”

There’s good potential to a plan like this if it will operate as outlined.