Young People’s Plan
Young People’s Plan Explained (PDF)
Why do we need a plan?
We want to make sure we are doing the best possible job for children and young people born with a cleft in the UK.
We sent a survey to young people and young adults in 2021 which gave us areas of the cleft journey that we should focus on.
This plan will help and guide us to do that.
How will we include the young people to whom this work matters?
Youth voice is really important to CLAPA.
We will work with CLAPA’s Children and Young People’s Council (CYPC), listen to their views and opinions, and help them to create positive change, both inside and outside of CLAPA.
What will we focus on?
We asked young people for their ideas on what CLAPA should focus on for young people in 2022 – 2025. In two surveys, they told us that it was important to support young people at these stages:
• Bone graft surgery
• Moving from primary to secondary school
• Jaw surgery
Young people told us they wanted us to help them feel:
- Less alone
- More confident when talking about their cleft
- Positive about themselves and their cleft
- Confident about future treatment
What will we do?
We are going to spend the next three years working hard to create new content for the CLAPA website and Instagram channel. We will aim to create:
- Stories
- Blogs
- Videos
- Podcasts
- Recordings
Everything we create will be easy to understand so that young people from about age ten upwards should be able to access all of these things independently.
It is also important that we plan some events for young people to meet and make friends. We will prioritise:
Three weekends away per year for any young people aged 8 -17 born with a cleft (one in Scotland and two in England)
Online events every three months.
These will focus on personal development, confidence building, arts and creativity, and music.
Who will lead the plan?
We’re going to create a steering group or project board, made up of young people, parents, volunteers and CLAPA Trustees.
They will guide our work for the next three years.
The steering group will make sure that all of our work will help young people to feel more connected with opportunities to make and build friendships, increase their confidence and feel more positive about being born with a cleft.
Got a question?
If you have any questions about our Young People’s Plan or this document, we’d be happy to help! You can get in touch by emailing [email protected] – we’d love to hear from you.