Kristin Sepulveda Muñoz is a research scientist on Child Trends’ child welfare team. She has over a decade of experience conducting research and evaluations on such issues as adoption, kinship care, and foster care. Her expertise includes quantitative analysis and working with child welfare administrative datasets (AFCARS, NCANDS, and NYTD) and state administrative data systems.

Currently, Ms. Muñoz serves as the project director of the Eastern Region Technology-Enhanced Adoption Recruitment and Matching Innovation Hub (TE-ARM). TE-ARM, a cooperative agreement funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families (HHS/ACF) Children’s Bureau, aims to implement new technology to improve the process of matching children eligible for adoption with prospective adoptive families. Ms. Muñoz serves in a similar leadership position on Child Trends’ partnership with the National Center for Enhanced Post-Adoption Supports, where she leads a large team providing data-related technical assistance to state and Tribal nation child welfare agencies. She is also project director on a grant funded by the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption that aims to develop a database to track post-adoption services funded by the foundation, as well as outcomes of the families who receive those services.

Previously, Ms. Muñoz led the HHS Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) Strategic Communications and Digital Engagement Strategy Support contract, which included managing and updating the OPRE website and supporting OPRE strategic communications. She also led the outcome evaluation of Wayfinder’s kinship navigator program, Kinnections, which was recently reviewed and rating “promising” by the Title IV-E Clearinghouse.