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Cranbourne family's plea
Dimity Barber
02Jul08
Karen Dyball and Vince Grant's family must live in a $500-a-week cabin. Picture: Jane Ollerenshaw. n01cs301.
"PLEASE help us for our kids' sake!"
This is the desperate plea from homeless Cranbourne mother-of-five Karen Dyball.
She and partner Vince Grant lost their house in a fire in 2005.
Now they are terrified they will lose their children as well because they cannot afford to keep paying 85 per cent of their income on a $500-a-week cabin in Carrum Downs.
Ms Dyball said she didn't know how much longer they could stay together.
"At this rate we won't be able to feed and clothe the kids for much longer," she said yesterday. "We don't want to have to hand them over to DHS. We want to stay together as a family, but we can't keep this up."
The couple, their four children aged 12 and under and Mr Grant's 76-year-old mother Patricia had been living in the garage of their burnt-out Cranbourne home since being told to vacate emergency accommodation in September. But last month they were forced out of their temporary refuge when it was levelled by a demolition team under Casey Council orders.
Hours later Ms Dyball went into labour three weeks early and gave birth to their fifth child, David Bradley.
With nowhere else to go, they moved into a caravan park.
Mr Grant said it had been tough on the kids. "We have no space and it's getting to them. It's just too hard for a family of this size to live this way."
Ms Dyball said a critical shortage of rental properties and their large family had made it very difficult to find somewhere to live.
"We're desperate and we hope somebody can help us," she said. "After living in a garage for months, we're not fussy."
Windermere Child and Family Services spokesman Kevin Noonan said the organisation was doing all it could to help.
"Our case workers have been assisting the family to the best of their ability given our limited resources and funding," Mr Noonan said. "At present, unfortunately, we cannot assist them in any other way."
