Parents′ forum: A novel mission

Abstract

Cleft management in India has come a long way in last decade or so as far as medical assistance to the children in terms of good quality surgery, orthodontic treatment, and so on is concerned. Presently, there are a number of organisations, both government and nongovernment taking remarkable initiatives in this direction with increasing number of quality surgeries being performed year after year. However, a gap still exists in the availability of ′′parents groups′′ working in this direction to address the anxiety and providing assistance to the new parents of cleft children. Recently, an initiative has been taken by the parents of the cleft children in India to address this gap that has led to the formation of a parent association with the sole objective of identifying/addressing various issues from the perspective of the new parents and disseminating required information and advice to them. This article discusses the need of such an association, its genesis, objectives, and the present status.

Keywords

• cleft lip and palate
• cleft mission
• parent forum
• parents
• information