Born in the central region of China, the President of the Great Wall China Adoption Organization, Snow Wu is no stranger to the magical beauty and the sometimes contrasting political conundrum that hangs heavy over China. Her dedication to children began at an early age. Right out of college she began working for the Chinese government to improve societal conditions in the People’s Republic of China. As she translated for Chinese leaders and diplomats, Ms. Wu was forever changed by the devastating state of welfare institutions she toured; particularly the overwhelmed child welfare and social welfare institutes throughout the country. Snow recognized the dire need for change. She would soon learn that her knowledge of the governmental system and her ability to communicate effectively in English as well as Chinese, would allow her to diplomatically organize the first of many stages of relief to come for the institutionalized children. She was now empowered by the knowledge that furthering her education would expedite her success with helping these children; a privileged and rare thought for most young women in China.
After moving to the United States to indeed aquire more education, families became aware of her experience and began contacting her to see if she could help them translate documents given to them as they attempted to adopt a child from China. It was soon apparent there were two halves of a whole that desperately needed each other and Snow knew she had the power to connect them.
At the same time, China was rapidly beginning to improve its Civil Affairs system regarding orphaned and abandoned children establishing the China Center for Adoption Affairs (CCAA) in 1996. That same year Ms. Wu established Great Wall China Adoption, now one of the leading and most recognized agencies in uniting parents with children from China. Her devotion to helping children find loving homes has led placing over 5,000 children with forever families.
With Snow’s leadership the Great Wall China Adoption Organization has forged a strong and lasting relationship with the CCAA as they work together to not only improve the conditions for those who currently work and live in Social Welfare Institutes, but to secure the happiness of the forever families created by this program. Snow frequently visits China and meets with high level government officials to advocate for better adoption laws and regulations.
Surprisingly, Snow’s advocacy work does not stop in China. Her voice carries to both local and federal governments to promote improvements in the United States’ systems as well. Snow serves on the board of Joint Council for International Children’s Services, which is the oldest and largest advocacy organization in America. She travels frequently to Washington D.C. to advocate and lobby for laws and regulations benefiting orphans and children with the Congress, State Department and other government agencies. In fact the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute awarded Ms. Wuwith an Angel in Adoption Award for her determination and passion for helping orphaned children in China.
Not only is her greatest mission to bring orphaned children to loving homes, she also has a continuing desire to assist those children who are left behind. She has since expanded the Great Wall China Adoption and evolved it into an outreaching organization, establishing several charities to assist those children including Libraries of Love, which provides books, educational materials and computers for orphanages; Gifts of Love, a program that supplies orphanages with appliances and other goods to improve the orphanage conditions and Angel Stitches, which is devoted to providing medical care to special needs children living in China’s orphanages. While a string of successes are achieved everyday, it is clear the goals of Snow Wu and the Great Wall China Adoption Organization are ever reaching.
