Cleft Awareness Week 2020

Welcome to Cleft Awareness Week 2020!

I'm hoping that this awareness week, we will be able to spread the word about Cleft New Zealand and how we are endeavouring to support cleft-affected families.

In New Zealand, a little more than 1/700 babies are born with a cleft. Chances are you know someone who has a cleft and may not have realised. Clefts are the second most common birth abnormality in New Zealand, and yet some people still do not even know what a cleft is. That's where you come in to help us educate the public, and support families on their cleft journeys.

As a charity, we run support groups, provide breast pumps for hire free-of-charge, provide welcome packs with personalised bears for each new baby born with a cleft, are publishing new resources for families regarding cleft care in New Zealand, and more. We would be grateful for any donations to help us continue to provide our services for FREE to any and all cleft affected kiwi families in need.

As a parent - I have two children who were born with clefts who are still having ongoing surgery. Cleft NZ has been a great support for us at each step along the way - with advice and support for each surgery that came without judgement and with a whole lot of love.

Having a community of people who were knowledgeable and empathetic has made a whole world of difference for us on our cleft journey. Awareness outside of our new 'cleft bubble', however, is still something we don't always find. I've had plenty of comments from strangers in public that belie just how little understanding there often is of what clefts are and how common they truly are. I would love for my children to grow up in a New Zealand where most people have at least heard of clefts, because with knowledge comes understanding - and with understanding comes acceptance.