The Bhaktapur Parents Group is a self-help group caring for children with Cerebral Palsy. It’s part of the umbrella organisation, Cerebral Palsy Nepal (CP Nepal), which is Nepal’s only non-governmental and non-profit organisation dedicated to supporting people with Cerebral Palsy and their families.  Despite the excellent progress they have made, they are only scratching the surface of what remains a chronic, under-resourced problem in Nepal.

Cerebral Palsy is a neurological disorder that involves damage to the brain such that many sufferers have a range of problems which vary in severity.  These often include mobility issues, speech difficulties, developmental delay, learning difficulties, and seizures.  Cerebral Palsy is not a genetic disorder; with injury to the brain often occurring prior to birth, during birth, or soon after.  There is no cure for Cerebral Palsy, although timely therapeutic interventions can significantly improve function and enhance quality of life for those affected.  In Nepal, especially in remote areas, it is hard to access the support and medical help required.  This, coupled with extreme poverty, lack of education, and social-cultural beliefs concerning disability, means many children do not receive the help needed.  Cerebral Palsy is referred to by many as "Nepal's hidden catastrophe".

The work of CP Nepal and other agencies is vital in raising awareness of the condition, improving access to therapeutic interventions, and in changing social and cultural beliefs and attitudes towards disability.

The Bhaktapur Parents Group provides day-care support such as educational activities (including Computer Studies), social skill & daily livelihood activities, guided self-exercise, and daily physiotherapy sessions.  It was established in 2010 and currently provides support for 24 families (as of 2023) who care for individuals with Cerebral Palsy.

CP Nepal also provides a home visit service at least 3 times a week where they work with the families of those affected by Cerebral Palsy to live as independently as they can in their own homes.  They also coordinate with other organisations to provide assisted-living equipment for these families.

In the words of CP Nepal:

“We are exclusively dedicated to the rehabilitation of children suffering from Cerebral Palsy and other disabilities. The mission of  the parents self-help group is to ease the day-to-day life activities of physically and mentally disabled children through the arrangement of proper care, special education, therapies, and health services.  Working for the rights and welfare of these children by helping their parents to help themselves has been a major goal of the organisation.

Our mission is to run a day care centre, home  visit service, and to empower parents. The care centre is a valuable platform to ensure mental and emotional health and it can be helpful for parents to continue to be involved in the child's development and to provide a supportive and nurturing environment at home.”

We provide top-up funding to help with new therapies and resources, changes in accommodation, resource provision, and increasing the numbers of parents or families able to attend the self-help support centre.  It’s a self-funding group, many of whose members or visitors are unable to pay in full for the service.  New Futures Nepal therefore helps subsidise support for these families.

In 2022, New Futures Nepal also provided an additional Covid relief grant of £19k to CP Nepal to cover medication, community food provisions, staff costs, and rent payments.

Find out more about the Bhaktapur Parents Group.