What If the Cleft Child is Yours?

Abstract

Every 3 minutes, a child is born with a cleft lip or cleft palate and make the child to suffer from hunger and thirst, difficulty with speech and social stigma (Operation Smile, n.d.). Yes, Cleft (lip/palate) is usually accompanied with stigma from the society especially when they lack information about it. When a baby is born into the world the whole family rejoices but in the case of the cleft (lip/palate) child the parents end up in shock and sadness. It even makes the parents and their families think that having a cleft child is a curse in itself. One of the factors that the parents’ of cleft (lip/palate) child limit themselves from taking their cleft (lip/palate) child to social gathering as they are scared that the society may have a negative attitude towards them. Assumptions about its cause make the parents difficult to adjust to the situation. People would talk behind them discussing about the cause of cleft (lip/palate) saying that their parents did something wrong that is the reason why their cleft child is the consequence. Twelve year old twins from a small state (Meghalaya) in India do not want to go to school or play with the other children because they were named as daughters of the devil and ugly simply because they were born with a cleft lip.