The Times reported that "Labour leader Joseph Muscat has called for a national debate on what happens to persons with disabilities once their parents pass away." (April 7). The Down Syndrome Association agrees that this issue ought to be put at the top of the government's agenda as time is passing by very quickly and lots of persons with a disability are being left behind by their parents who pass away before them.

The continuous headache of each parent of a person with a disability about what is to happen to their children when they are not here anymore is a reality. So is the present unpleasant situation we parents are witnessing about the lack of residential homes for our children who have Down Syndrome. We work hard to give our children the best primary/secondary education possible; we, as an association, are working on the importance of further education and lifelong learning for our children; we are working on the issue of employment (lack of it) and the next step is to be the residential homes for our children - the right place with the right atmosphere where our children can, with a little bit of help, continue to live an independent life, as they used to do at home, with peers with the same needs and abilities.

This is the wish of each and every parent of a child who has Down Syndrome - that when they are gone their daughter/son will spend the rest of her/his life as independently as possible with their own friends. If this service is well-planned, our children who have Down Syndrome can, with a little bit of help, easily continue to live a happy independent life.

Let us work together to make all these parents' wishes come true! Let us put these parents' minds at rest because they do merit this after all the sacrifices and sometimes hard times all the family had to endure because of the disability in the family.

This is a sensitive issue and needs to be addressed as professionally as possible.