What will happen when we are gone?

Being a good parent in this day and age is not an easy task. Our children are bombarded by all the new social media, traditional mass media as well as the usual pressures from their peers.

We, as parents, try to instil in them a good set of Christian values by constant guidance and by setting a good example. That is as far as we can go. When our children reach a certain age we have to let go and hope that they have a good life especially after we are gone.

Unfortunately this does not apply to parents of children with special needs. We can never actually let go. We live with the constant anxiety of not knowing how our child will cope once we are gone. A lot of good work is being done by organisations such as Inspire (Eden & Razzett), Equal Partners etc in order to give our children a good education as well as job opportunities; however, our children also need access to independent living once they reach adulthood. This missing link is beyond the financial means of these NGOs and therefore government support is required.

I suggest that the government adopts the same approach as it does for the elderly where public/private partnerships have been so successful. The government needs to create clusters of six or eight apartments (preferably in the centre of town) where our children can go to live once they have reached a certain age.

These clusters would have caretaker services which could give different levels of support depending on the abilities of the people in the apartments.

I know that this system works very well in other countries and I appeal to the government to replicate it in Malta so that parents of children with special needs will have the peace of mind that their children can enjoy a semi-independent life even after they are gone.