HUNTER grandparent Gavin Breen has called for kinship carers to "get rowdy" and take a stand against funding cuts.
Mr Breen's call is in response to state government plans to cut up to $500 million from the Community Services department funding over four years.
Together with several other kinship carers, Mr Breen, vice president of Grandparents, Relatives and Kinship Carers Association, has organised a forum this Monday, where Opposition Leader John Robertson and the Shadow Minister for Family and Community Services, Linda Burney, will speak.
Mr Breen said on previous matters the association had made repeated attempts to contact local, state and federal Liberal members for community consultations but with no success.
He said for this forum they had not bothered to contact them and had taken a different tack.
It is hoped the opposition will support the association's plight.
The ideal outcome would be a promise from Mr Robertson that he would ramp up the fight for the carers and their funding as well as raising the issue in Parliament.
The community forum is expected to host dozens of kinship and foster carers who will be affected by cuts to their budgets.
Mr Breen said should the cuts go ahead, he would be forced to raise his teenage grandson off a disability pension.
He previously told The Star each day as a kinship carer was overwhelming and he was constantly worried he would be unable to provide a secure lifestyle for his grandson.
"Grandparents are not the type to get loud, but we need to start fighting," Mr Breen said.
■ The forum will be on this Monday, December 10, at the Salvation Army Oasis Centre, Church Hall, 57 Cleary Street, Hamilton, from 12.30pm.
