Parents of disabled children who use three threatened respite care centres in Oxfordshire have said they could go to court in a bid to stop the closures.

A protest meeting last night also heard a psychologist had warned of "dire consequences" if the closures went ahead.

In a £9m package of social services spending cuts, county councillors voted last week to axe a £500,000 annual grant to Barnardo's, which runs the centres.

The money is vital to the budgets of the Summerfield Resource Centre in Abingdon, Sycamore House in Banbury, and the Chilterns Centre in Henley, which cost £1.1m a year to run.

About 100 young people, aged from five to 17, use the centres, which provide respite care for families of children with severe learning or physical disabilities. More than 50 parents, supporters and charity workers attended the meeting in Oxford to discuss ways to fight the closures.

The parents' support group FORCe organised the meeting, at the Rivermead Rehabilitation Centre. Spokesman Colin Webster, whose eight-year-old son Daniel attends Summerfield, said: "Parents feel they have a strong case for taking legal action.

"Closing these centres would have a devastating effect on families, who need all the help they can get. We want to look at every possible way forward, so we will continue to talk to councillors, but we will also be seeking legal advice on the feasibility of a judicial review against the council.

This would be launched on the grounds that the council is not fulfilling its statutory responsibilities under the 1989 Children's Act."

Any legal challenge would claim the parents were not properly consulted over the closures. Gill Ross, 39, of Grange Road, Banbury, whose autistic daughter Charlotte, 10, attends Sycamore House, said: "We will keep the lines of communication open with councillors but we have to get tough with them if necessary, and show them that they can't get away with this."

Local government union Unison is also considering a legal challenge to the cuts, which will affect services for the elderly, children, and the disabled.

Richard Hassall, a clinical psychologist from the Oxfordshire Learning Disability NHS Trust, said earlier this week the closures would have dire consequences.

He said there could be "an increased rate of marital breakdown, and a higher incidence of mental health problems among parents and children alike". He added: "There will be increased pressure for costly out-of-county placements for children with severe challenging behaviour. Inevitably, the social services department will face even greater demands for scarce resources."

County council leader Keith Mitchell has said lawyers would carefully monitor the cuts process and that officers would examine carefully Health Secretary Alan Milburn's Budget pledge of a six per cent rise in social services spending next year.