Cleft New Zealand Inc

Roughly 1/700 babies each year are born with cleft lip and/or palate in New Zealand.

Cleft New Zealand was founded back in the 1970s with the aim of creating support for families on their cleft journeys. We work to bring families together to share their struggles, triumphs, and all the days in between.

Our aim is to support and empower people born with clefts to live their best lives, and to create a society that loves and accepts them. We also support the parents & families who have just had a beautiful new baby born with a cleft lip and/or palate. Coffee groups, online support groups, and an 0800 advice line are just some of the services we provide.

Going forward we are working on some new initiatives that we would appreciate you considering helping us with:

- Rewriting and updating our "Blue Book"; a resource dedicated to information on cleft repairs, baby feeding, social issues and beyond aimed at new parents and families.

- Creating welcome packs including teddies with cleft scars to match their recipients for all new babies born (start date TBD)

- Getting "Cleft Awareness Day" running and creating a public profile for the charity. We hope that by educating the public, we can make the world a more inclusive place.

- Starting a library for Cleft NZ members with cleft-related literature, including picture books for kids.

- Running seminars for health care professionals to come together and discuss cleft care in NZ.