The Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians wants to put money into the hands of Indian trust beneficiaries. Therefore, when beneficiaries don’t come to OST, OST goes out to find them!

OST refers to beneficiaries who do not have current contact information on file as “Whereabouts Unknown or WAUs.” As of July 31, 2008, OST has listed more than 83,000 beneficiaries as WAUs. Finding WAUs is an important task of each fiduciary trust officer.

The staff of FTO Charles Jackson at the Warm Springs Agency in Oregon, part of the Northwest Region, came up with the proactive idea of hanging out at the post office. OK, they are not really hanging out but are setting up a table on the day of the month that per-capita checks arrive. When they find a WAU at the post-office location, the person can update contact information right then and there.

To provide information about a WAU or to ask questions, call the Trust Beneficiary Call Center, toll-free, at 1-888-678-6836. TBCC operates six days a week Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 8 a.m. to noon, Mountain Time. To view the list of WAUs, visit http://www.doi.gov/ost/.