JACQUE SECONDINE HENLEY - INDIAN AFFAIRS LIAISON

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Jacque Secondine Hensley
Indian Affairs Liaison
Newly Appointed by Director Ed Lake
- first to hold position

Anything at DHS that interfaces with the tribes is what I'm responsible for. One of the things I think that I really wanted to do at the very beginning is to talk with all of the directors at DHS to see if there were any problems, any issues that they have encountered recently.

And then, the next goal I wanted to do was to go out to every tribal headquarters and talk to the tribal leader of that tribe to make sure that they know my position is different because all they remember is Jacque Hensley from the Governor's office. I want to make sure that they know that I'm the point person, the contact person in case any of those issues arise when they deal with DHS. 

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Jacque Secondine Hensley
Indian Affairs Liaison
Native American Liaison to Governor Mary Fallin
- first to hold position
Family Counselor, LPC
- Parents Anonymous

What I told Director Lake is that DHS needs a tribal consultation policy because a lot of the other agencies, state agencies have that. I think if you have that and it's written down specifically of how you are going to deal with the tribes, you know, it's respectful on both sides. It's going to alleviate a lot of the problems that are going on now in regards to DHS workers not understanding why tribes are very adamant about a certain issue and vice versa. 

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Jacque Secondine Hensley
Special Agent, Bureau of Indian Affairs
- nation’s Child Abuse Investigator
Special Agent, US Department of Defense
- contract negotiation and fraud investigation
Instructor, Indian Police Academy
- Artesia, NM

The tribes are very excited because they know from my previous work, again with the Governor's office, that I am very passionate about what I do, and when I say something, I will do it--not necessarily being that I can resolve the problem, but I can help them go to the last step to try to resolve a problem. 

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Jacque Secondine Hensley
Indian Affairs Liaison
Former President:
- Child Protection Team
OU College of Medicine and Pediatrics Department

My long-term goals are to see where the problems are and to implement change. I don't want to be just, "Oh, you know, this should be better." I want it to be implemented into policy--that this is how we are going to interact with the tribes, because the tribes in Oklahoma are not going anywhere. They will always be here, and we will need to be cognizant of that. They are our partners, and they will always be our partners.

Policy does rule the DHS employee however, again the DHS person really needs to understand that when the tribal person is talking, and talking about what their tribe are saying, it possibly might be in their Constitution, in their tribal Constitution. So, that's important for them. It would be like us and Oklahoma law. That is their tribal law. 

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Jacque Secondine Hensley
Indian Affairs Liaison
Contact: Jacque.Hensley@okdhs.org

I believe that any time there is a conflict that can't be resolved, that's when they should call me--should call the tribal coordinator if it's child welfare--or call me, if it's not child welfare, and we can all sit down and talk about it. 

Again, there are going to be times where we will not agree. DHS will not agree with the tribe, but at least we can sit there and be respectful and communicate with each other.