CCAA

CCAA – China Centre of Adoption Affairs. To those of us in the field of international adoption, CCAA is an imposing, almost intimidating, institution, as they oversee all adoption activity in China.

On my recent trip to China, I had the pleasure of traveling to Beijing to visit with CCAA’s management team, led by Director-General Zhang. After lunch, a 4-hour meeting and dinner, I came away with 4 observations:

• CCAA is imposing.

• The leadership, and I’m sure the staff, of CCAA care deeply about the vulnerable children of China and are passionate about their well-being and about the international adoption community handling everything we do with absolute integrity.

• CCAA’s leadership team is fun and enjoys a good laugh (often at my expense). “What happens in Beijing stays in Beijing.”

• Finally, and not surprisingly, our own China treasure, Gongzhan Wu, knows everyone at CCAA.

It was a memorable, but exhausting, day. I flew back to Shanghai late that night and fell asleep at the gate, barely rousing myself for the final call to board. Otherwise, I might still be in China.