A Manifesto for Our Shared Future in the Cleft Community

CLEFT - Bridging The Gap was founded by the UK’s leading cleft clinicians. We have built a network of outstanding researchers, and are helping to strengthen an international network of medical professionals in Asia, Middle East and Africa. Joining this endeavour are hundreds of people with a personal connection to cleft - parents, children, siblings and supporters - who know both the challenges and the resilience it brings. Their lived experience makes our community strong and inspires us to stand together. They help shape every decision, serving on our Board of Trustees and committees, acting as International Ambassadors, and contributing as students, trainees, volunteers and supporters, bringing commitment to everything we do.

This combination of medical excellence and personal experience makes CLEFT unique: a community speaking for itself, families investing in our shared future.

Research that protects our children and grandchildren

Together we are asking the questions our community most want answered: why do clefts occur, what role genetics play in clefts, how can treatment be kinder and more effective, and how can speech and facial outcomes be improved? Clefts affect our families today and the generations to come. That is why research is at the very heart of our work.

By supporting this work, we are helping to bring real answers ensuring that our children and grandchildren inherit better knowledge, better care, and better lives.

We as a community are driving progress for the next generation.

From One Cleft Family to Another: Care Across Borders

Families in low- and middle-income countries are part of our international community, and they should have the same access to evidence-based multidisciplinary cleft care as families in the UK. That is why we work hand in hand with local clinicians to help establish permanent cleft centres, providing training, equipment and long-term support.

Because we do this together, we as a community are ensuring lasting, quality care for children born with cleft in other parts of the globe.

A community bound together

CLEFT - Bridging The Gap is not just an organisation; it is a movement of families, clinicians and supporters bound by a common cause. Every contribution strengthens not only global cleft care, but also the future of our own community — our children and grandchildren.

To everyone in the cleft community - families, clinicians, and supporters - join us! Together we are investing in our shared future.

Latest

Javid's 10k Fundraising Run

My son Elvin was born with a cleft lip in 2024. But thanks to the NHS, we got world class care and the result was unrecognisable. Sometimes we remember the fact that he used to have a cleft and we miss his huge carefree cleft smile. But unfortunately not every child has access to the same professional support. It is Elvin's 2nd birthday this week, so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to run 10k fundraising for CLEFT - to help other children across the world, bridging the gap.
LF1 Cleft Charity

We are raising money with the LF1 division of the Cleft Charity at Charles University, Prague, to support sustainable, long-term improvements in cleft care. Through fundraising and awareness initiatives at LF1, we aim to contribute to the main UK Cleft Charity’s mission of improving access to cleft treatment, multidisciplinary care, and support services for patients and families both in the UK and internationally.
London Marathon 2027

1.33 million people applied for the London Marathon 2027. For the first time ever CLEFT has a guaranteed place. We are looking for someone incredible to run the London Marathon for CLEFT. Could that person be you?
Sarah’s 10K for Cleft UK

I am raising money to provide long-term, sustainable ways to improve cleft care both in the UK and overseas.

Donate to CLEFT

You can make a one-off donation today or sign up to giving a regular monthly gift. All donations, small or large, will help us to improve the lives of those born with cleft lip and palate both now and in the future.
National Institute of Burns and Plastic Surgery

We are working with Bangladeshi specialists at the new National Institute of Burns and Plastic Surgery to create a sustainable centre to treat children with cleft lip and palate.
Our mission

CLEFT was established in 2007 with one aim, to help improve the lives of children born with cleft lip and palate, either by funding research into the likely causes of the condition or by helping support teams in lower and middle income countries.
Nawrin and the C-Arm

This important piece of equipment was supplied by CLEFT and is used to see moving images of the cleft palate. Nawrin is a 13 year old girl who was experiencing speech difficulties and needed the C-Arm to show the cleft team if further surgery was required.
About us

CLEFT was established in 2007 by cleft surgeon Brian Sommerlad - based at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, together with a former patient and a patient's grandmother.
The genetics of cleft lip and palate

Investigations into the genetics of cleft lip and palate to understand more about why cleft lip and palate occurs.
Brian Sommerlad, Consultant Plastic Surgeon and Chair of Trustees

For over 40 years, I have been involved in operating on babies, children and adults who have been born with cleft lip and/or palate.
Our research vision

At CLEFT, our vision is of a future where clefts are preventable. Until we get there, we want to improve the lives of those born with cleft lip and palate.
Trusts and Foundations

Today, 1-in-700 babies in the UK are born with a cleft lip and palate, the most common form of birth defect. The impact on a child’s life as they grow is profound. Typically, they will need at least four operations. They may also require ongoing tests, treatment or therapy. It will affect the way they look but also their speech, hearing and dental development. It can leave deep psychological scars.
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