"I am honored to be here today to speak to our many colleagues in Russia who work tirelessly for the well-being of the children in their care. In my brief time before you, I’m going to talk about our experiences with disabled Russian children who have been adopted by Americans. However, I’m going to take the majority of my time to talk about the secondary disabilities seen in many Russian adoptees brought about by living within institutions during the early, formative period of development. Finally at the end of my talk, we’ll discuss interventions that can help promote normal child development within institutions."

- Dr. Dana Johnson, MD, Ph.D., October 2002