Cleft Lip and Palate Center
Family Resources
Support Organizations/Family Networking
- American Cleft Palate Craniofacial Association: Read more about cleft lip and palate and learn about team-based care and family experiences. You can also find many booklets about what to expect at each stage of your child’s life there.
- Financial resources to help pay for all or part of the costs of treating a person with a cleft lip and/or palate fall into three categories:
- health insurance
- federal and state resources
- private and non-profit agencies, foundations, and service organizations
- Children’s Craniofacial Association: Find out more about syndromes and join a network of other families touched by a craniofacial condition.
- MyFace: MyFace is a non-profit organization dedicated to changing the faces and transforming the lives – of children and adults with facial differences.
- Smile Train: Smile Train is the world’s largest cleft-focused organization, with a sustainable and local model of supporting surgery and other forms of essential care. Over the last 20+ years, we have supported safe and quality cleft care for 1.5+ million children and will continue to do so until every child in need with a cleft has access to the care they deserve.
Camp Keep Smiling
Camp Keep Smiling is a hospital funded camp began in 2014, foudned by one of our craniofacial surgeons, Dr. Laura Monson. This is an annual camp that aims in bringing those children with a cleft lip and/or palate together to celebrate what makes them unique.
Patients from the ages of 10 and 16 are invited to spend the weekend at Camp for All in Burton, Texas free of charge. The goal of camp is to create a safe, supportive space where kids can build confidence and connect with others who share similar life experiences. Throughout the weekend, they take part in group activities, spend time getting to know one another, and are supported by volunteer mentors.
The camp is made possible by both clinical and non-clinical staff from Texas Children's Hospital. Volunteers include office and clinic staff, clinical providers, nurses, child life specialists, and operating room staff. As a practice, we have found that the annual camp has not only impacted our patients and their families, but also our providers and staff that graciously volunteer.
