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Baby Ritchie and his family

Your stories

Read stories from parents and families, and submit your own to share with the UK's cleft community.

Latest stories

In this section

Reading stories from other people is one of the best ways to know that whatever you’re going through, you’re not alone.

CLAPA has collected together stories from parents of children with a cleft, which cover everything from diagnosis to coping with operations and watching their children grow up.

You can browse these stories below or share your own story through our simple form.

Latest stories

Browse the latest stories and interviews with parents and carers of children born with a cleft.
All parent and family stories

Meet Mary, CLAPA Peer Support Volunteer

After spending more than 60 years without meeting another person with a cleft, Mary now volunteers as a CLAPA Peer Supporter, helping others feel understood, informed and less alone.

Gemma’s story

Gemma shares how being a part of CLAPA’s Young Adults Group has helped her confidence and self-image.

Julia’s story

Julia discusses the positive impact of finding CLAPA and returning to cleft care as an adult.

Share your story

You can share your story and photos through our simple form.

Before you get started, think about why you want to share your story – maybe you want to raise awareness; share any lessons learnt; or reassure people in a similar position they’re not alone. Whatever your reason, try to make your message come across strongly in your story.

Prompts and questions

Not sure where to start in telling your story? The following questions are prompts to think about what to include in your story. You don’t need to answer all of them if you don’t want to – what’s important is your story includes what matters to you.

  • What was your experience of diagnosis? How much did you know about cleft before your diagnosis?
  • How did the diagnosis make you feel about your pregnancy/ baby?
  • When did you tell your family and friends? How did they react?
  • What were your experiences with surgery and treatment?
  • Were there any challenges you didn’t expect or you weren’t prepared for?
  • Do you talk to your child about their cleft? How do they respond? How do you think they feel about their cleft?
  • What is one piece of advice you wish you’d received when your child was diagnosed, or one thing you wish you’d known?
  • When did you join the CLAPA Community? How has this helped? What do you get from CLAPA that you can’t access from the NHS Cleft Team?
  • Do you think it’s important for parents to have support from an organisation like CLAPA?