Evgeniy Isahovskiy. “People have a lot of questions and they are eager to know where they can get help, and we are happy to answer those,” said Mr. Isahovskiy, the chairman of the Federal Committee for Problems of Children with Special Needs.

Last year, about 7,800 children ages 6 to 14 were admitted to the state foster program for at-risk families.

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The child’s health and development can deteriorate significantly due to neglect and prolonged exposure to abuse, emotional, behavioral as well as physical neglect.

In many cases, the children have lived under the care of relatives for years. It is not uncommon for families to adopt a child when they are about to have a new one admitted to their home. The new child is not often considered to be in danger, until after the death of the previous child.

At the shelter, some children have been adopted in previous years, and some children can now come home directly from orphanages.

At the Center for Adoptive Infants and Children at the University of Virginia, adopted foster children of any age with special needs are taken care of by volunteer physicians and specialists. They are treated by doctors who specialize in child behavioral disorders, along with experts in the areas of psychiatric rehabilitation and child development.

Adopted children often are given extensive behavior counseling in addition to individual behavioral therapy.

Mr. Isahovskiy acknowledged that adoptive families typically are better prepared to handle a child’s behavior. “We do a better job than ever before of training families,” said Mr. Isahovskiy, who is a former psychiatrist. “But we can only help these families so much.”