Disability rights campaigners are planning to bring a series of test cases to prove that families with disabled children have a legal right to short breaks.
The Every Disabled Child Matters group is asking for families who have been refused support by their local authority to take part in the cases.
The government has committed £370m to fund short breaks for the families of disabled children over the next three years, but the campaign wants to see this backed by law.
After consulting with lawyers it believes that a legal right may already exist, and wants to bring the test cases to establish this.
Steve Broach, the campaign manager, said: "The legal opinion suggests that thousands of families with disabled children have been denied services which may have been theirs by right."
