In their 11 February 2010 edition, the Enniskillen-based Impartial Reporter newspaper ran a story about the closure of Positive Futures' Lakeland Families Service in Fermanagh.

The newspaper refers to the "not-so-positive future of Positive Futures". Local newspapers are interested in local issues and we would like to state that Positive Futures, which is a strong Organisation with services across Northern Ireland, has a very positive future.

We began in 1995 with one service and a few staff members. We now employ almost 400 people, are supported by almost 300 volunteers, are recognised as a leader in our field and provide leading edge, community-based support for children, young people and adults with a learning disability. We'd say that this is a pretty impressive and constructive track record.

We are confident about the future and will soon be providing a new service in the North-West, with support from the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. We will continue to provide services in Fermanagh.

The situation with our Lakeland Families Service is clear. The Service was established as a pilot project with a defined lifespan. Everyone involved knew this and, even though we all wished to see a much needed and very successful Service continue, there was no guarantee that this would be possible.

All organisations, including our funding partners, are facing difficult times. In these situations pilot services are particularly vulnerable and the reality is that the resources required to extend the life of the Service were not made available. We would like to make it clear that we communicated fully with the families who use the Lakeland Families Service about these circumstances.

The Impartial Report story states that Positive Futures knew about the impending closure of the Service early in 2009. We want to make it clear that the families involved also knew about this situation early in 2009. We also worked hard with these families through much of 2009 to explore other options.

As a result of this work the Service will continue until September 2010, rather than March 2010. We would like to thank our partners and funding bodies and recognise the tremendous fundraising efforts of the staff, families and volunteers which have made this possible.

As the Impartial Report newspaper states, they approached Positive Futures on a number of occasions for a comment about our Lakeland Families Service. As explained in our media statement, we were reluctant to comment publicly, as we had given a commitment to the families who use the Lakeland Service.

These families, who are our primary concern, had asked for time and privacy to absorb the news, discuss its implications and consider their position, before any public comment was made. We did our utmost to respect this position, but after repeated requests from the Impartial Report, we issued a statement with the agreement and support of the families involved. We understand that the families will be ready to speak publicly in the near future.

Positive Futures' agenda is clear. We are concerned with the people we support, our staff and our volunteers. We will continue to make a constructive contribution to the communities we work with.

We'd like to see the day when every person with a learning disability in Northern Ireland and their families has access to our leading edge support services. We will be working in Fermanagh and elsewhere to make this vision a reality.