The Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians recently formed a joint social-services working group. The group’s primary goals are to strengthen communication between their organizations and to improve the efficiency of their joint management of supervised Individual Indian Money accounts.

Implementation of training for BIA social workers and OST Fiduciary Trust Officers was the main objective of an initial meeting between representatives. Subsequently, staff met in May 2008 to discuss the curriculum and training materials they had developed to date. Meeting participants shared and analyzed stories that reflect current operational procedures between social workers and FTOs. Of particular note was the practice of collaborating on community-outreach events the two organizations hold throughout Indian Country. The group reconvened in June 2008 to review the training materials and launched the first formal training in July 2008.

The training focuses on defining BIA and OST roles and responsibilities as they relate to social services the organizations offer to Individual Indian Money account holders. Course components include the following:

• background   and history of BIA and OST relative to social-service fiduciary duties to   beneficiaries
• process   for authorizing disbursements
• applicable   CFR regulations, procedures and audits
• Trust Fund   Accounting System and the Stratavision reports that system produces
• IIM   records collection and preservation
• compact/contract   tribal responsibilities

For more information, contact Debby Pafel, OST public affairs specialist, at (202) 208-4289.