Jill Henderson’s Nine Years as a Permanency Caseworker and Empowering Families

Jill Henderson, a lead permanency caseworker at Jefferson County, has dedicated nearly nine years to family stability and permanency case management. A colleague at her school encouraged Jill to apply for this position, where she now applies her background in social science, criminal justice, and special education.. Her empathy fuels a deep commitment to families she serves, a dedication she has maintained for nearly nine years.

“These families need us. I remind myself often that when I was a young mother, I could have easily been one of these people. I had my son at 16  and my daughter at 20. I was a hard teenager who didn’t know what she was doing being a mother. I could have easily ended up with an open case just by stupid mistakes. And I think reminding myself of that keeps me grounded that this could be any of us,” Jill explained.

As a permanency caseworker, Jill currently manages a caseload of nine cases, overseeing court-ordered interventions to ensure safety and stability for families. She leads her team, assists with case reports, and works diligently to support parents, kinship providers, foster parents, and children. Jill’s core motivation drives her to support people through difficult times in their lives. She actively works to change the perception of child protection services, demonstrating that the agency strives to keep families together and strengthen them, rather than simply removing children.

“We’re put into their lives to give them that help and support them to be successful and sometimes pulling them out of some of the hardest times of their life. And it’s a scary thing and child protection has a bad reputation but I want people to see that that’s not how the system is, case workers are there to help. We’re there to bring families together, make them stronger,” Jill explained.

Jill champions a strategy built on proactive service planning and transparency. She engages parents directly in their own treatment plans, fostering better cooperation rather than dictating requirements. Acknowledging the difficulties parents face, she balances support with firm expectations. She moves quickly to ensure services are ready immediately, for example, prioritizing planning for a parent being released from jail to reduce the risk of relapse. Jill often works after hours to provide immediate support and avoid any unnecessary delays in supporting families. 

“The sooner you can get people involved and like in treatment the better. I think it leads to more of a success rate and it helps build that trust and that teamwork from the beginning. There’s so many different professionals involved with cases, so when everybody can work as a team that is a big part of having the families be successful,” said Jill of her approach to working with families and other professionals. 

She also advocates for the families she serves and helps them secure the essential items they need.. In one successful case, she used platforms like Facebook Marketplace to help a father secure housing and household items. She emphasizes the use of CarePortal for sourcing donations, which helps families move forward successfully.

“For this one father, I was the only support he had at the time. He had his employer, but all of his family lived out of state and I just knew he needed the help and if I didn’t help him, he wouldn’t have had that help,” she said of a case where she delivered things she found on Facebook market place to the family in her husband’s truck.“That was like one of the happiest cases I ever had. This dad got his three little girls back and we were able to close successfully and they had their own place. They got a little kitten and it was just like a positive thing to walk away and be like, ‘This family is going to be okay and they’re not going to come back.’”

Jill stresses the importance of professional collaboration among all partners—attorneys, treatment providers, and caregivers—to help families navigate the complex system. As a leader, she utilizes a positive mindset to inspire peers, reminding her team that difficult situations are temporary. She understands that maintaining a positive outlook and practicing self-care is essential for sustainability. 

“Walking my dog is my biggest support and I walk him twice a day and that is able to help me clear my head. Rain or shine we’re walking and that’s like how I take care of myself and sometimes you just have to go and get french fries in the middle of your day,” said Jill.

Ultimately, Jill’s commitment lies in keeping families together, knowing that children consistently express a desire to be with their parents. She views her role as facilitating that reunion by helping parents become the best they can be. Her experience, including quickly moving a child from an unfamiliar kin placement to a trusted family member, underscores her focus on placing children in comfortable environments for better, more positive experiences.

“Studies show that kids do better with families and like we know we all love our parents. We all need our parents no matter how hard relationships are. And by keeping families together, they’re more successful in life and have better outcomes. And if we can do that for as many families as possible, I think that’s for the best,” said Jill.