Links
Index
International
Operation Smile
Throughout the world, Operation Smile volunteers to repair childhood facial deformities while building public and private partnerships that advocate for sustainable healthcare systems for children and families. Together, we create smiles, change lives, heal humanity.
Check Give.org's report on this charity:
The Smile Train
Unlike many charities that do many different things, The Smile Train is focused on solving a single problem: cleft lip and palate.
Check Give.org's report on this charity:
Transforming Faces Worldwide
A non-profit organization dedicated to improving the availability and quality of medial treatment and care of children and adults, with cleft lip and palate and related craniofacial disorders.
Interplast
Interplast envisions a world in which no human being suffers physically or emotionally from a repairable congenital deformity or injury. To reach that vision, Interplast partners with volunteers and overseas medical colleagues to educate and empower local communities so that medical access is available year-round - now and for generations to come.
There is also the Interplast Blog, a weblog for Interplast volunteer surgical trips and international partner surgeons around the world.
You can view Interplast's Flickr Photostream here.
The Cleftsurgery Organization
A Belgian/Dutch organization that gives medical help to people, mostly children, with a harelip in development countries. We also look for local medical workers to be trained in performing the operation by themselves. Several doctors and nurses are willing to do this work on a non-profit basis. The doctors even buy their own flightticket.
The European Cleft Lip and Palate Foundation
The European Cleft Lip and Palate Foundation de ECLPF is an organisation providing medical aid on an international scale to children with a cleft lip and/or palate. ECLPF’s activities are focused on developing countries lacking the resources to treat these children.
Cleft Children Internationl
CCI Cleft-Children International (an NGO based in Switzerland), offers disfigured children free surgery. In India alone they have successfully set up their first four 'cleft centres', and have accomplished over 10,000 surgeries.
Australia
CleftPals
CleftPALS is a non-profit organisation that receives no government funding. It is governed by a National body, which is based in Sydney. The National body is made up of a delegate from each state committee giving true National representation. Branch groups exist in NSW, Queensland, WA, Tasmania, and Victoria.
Cleftpals – Victoria
Cleftpals – Queensland
I have not been able to find websites for CleftPals in the other states.
The Royal Children's Hospital - Cleft Palate Info Booklet
The RCH is a specialist paediatric hospital and provides a full range of clinical services, tertiary care and health promotion and prevention programs for children and adolescents. The hospital is the major specialist paediatric hospital in Victoria, and also cares for children from Tasmania and southern New South Wales and other states around Australia and overseas.
This introduction sounds a bit dry so I'm going to add my own bit: the RCH is where our son underwent his operations and received treatment for his cleft lip and palate - we're immensely grateful for all the help we have received through the RCH and would like to thank all who had a hand in getting us through it all.
China
Smile China
The primary objective of the Smile China Project is to provide specialized surgical, medical and health care services to children affected with facial deformities in poor developing areas within the People's Republic of China.
Phillipines
The Phillipine Band of Mercy
To establish and maintain facilities and programs with sufficient resources towards prevention, treatment, and cure of all craniofacial deformities.
South America
PIEL
A nearly twenty-year-old organization that provides free reconstructive surgery to those in need, with a specialization in cleft palate repair.
UK/Ireland
The Cleft Lip and Palate Association
CLAPA was set up in 1979 as a partnership between parents and health professionals. It provides support for new parents, and for people with the condition and their families, from infancy through to adulthood. CLAPA is the only UK-wide voluntary organisation specifically helping those with, and affected by, cleft lip and palate. It is unique.
Lots of information.
Cleft Lip and Palate Association of Ireland
A registered charity committed to excellence, research, education & management of Cleft Lip and Palate.
Scottish Association for Cleft Lip and Palate
The Cleft Lip & Palate Association of Ireland (CLAPAI), registered charity, is a voluntary group formed to provide support and information for parents of children affected by cleft lip and palate and those directly affected by the condition.
USA
Wide Smiles
WIDE SMILES was formed to ensure that parents of cleft-affected children do not have to feel alone. We offer support, inspiration, information and networking for families everywhere who may be dealing with the challenges associated with clefting.
The Cleft Palate Foundation
A non-profit organization dedicated to optimizing the quality of life for individuals affected by facial birth defects. It was founded by the American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association in 1973 to be the public service arm of the professional Association. Very informative site with a lot of online publications (also in Spanish).
Cleft Advocate
The site's "mission" page states the following: The Mission of cleftAdvocate is to educate and inspire families whose lives are touched by cleft lip and/or palate or other craniofacial anomalies.
By providing educational opportunities, on- and off-line support networks, social interaction and advocacy guidelines, cleftAdvocate gives families the tools they need to obtain the absolute best medical care from their cleft/craniofacial team and the best service from their insurer, while encouraging children, teens and adults with cleft lip and/or palate and other craniofacial anomalies to reach their highest level of self-esteem.
Smiles
A group of dedicated families who have developed a first-hand understanding of the needs of children with cleft lip, cleft palate and craniofacial deformities. Through our personal sensitivity, energy, knowledge, and love we are dedicated to improve the lives of these children in our country and around the world.
Cleft Club Radio
A podcast for the cleft lip and palate community. Not sure whether this is still going since the last podcast from them dates from November 2005. Still, there's a couple of podcasts in the archive.
National Organization for Rare Disorders
This links to a page with an extensive list of US links.
About Face
AboutFace USA was founded in 1991 to provide educational and emotional support to persons born with craniofacial birth anomalies and their families. The organization soon expanded to also serve persons with acquired facial differences due to burns, trauma and disease, and in 2004 partnered with cleftAdvocate under the same corporate umbrella.
Of Interest
Wikipedia
Wikipedia has an answer for everything and here's their entry on cleft lips and palates.
Summit for Smiles
One man's mission to climb Kilimanjaro in order to raise funds for cleft surgeries.
All public entries on this site are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 License.
X-mas day
we'd like to thank Dr. Meara, Dr. Greensmith, Kylie Pollard and everyone at the Royal Childrens' Cleft Clinic in Melbourne Read The Rest »
This is where I blog about my pregnancy and Alice's arrival (with unilateral cleft lip and palate) and progress. Read The Rest »