Men in masks and white suits campaigning for better rights for dads

threw buckets of water at an office block in Bradford city centre.They

were from the Fathers4-Justice group which claims men do not get a fair

chance in custody hearings for their children.Leader Paul Midgley,

formerly of Wibsey, Bradford, said yesterday's protest targeted the

Children And Family Courts Advisory and Support Service in Manor Row

because they felt it did not act fairly.He said throwing water at the

building was symbolically cleaning the family-law system.They also

chanted: "Children need both parents!"He claimed CAFCASS has a blinkered

view on custody issues. Yesterday's action in Bradford was part of a

campaign at offices across York-shire highlighting the issue.The

protests were held on the third anniversary since CAFCASS was set up.Mr

Midgley said: "The people in these offices have a stereotypical view of

who should care for children. A lot of staff are former probation

officers whose dealing with men is in very different circumstances."He

said the aim was to get the law to make a starting point of 50-50 at the

outset of any dispute over custody and not be biased in favour of

women.Mr Midgley fought for three years to get to see his children for

two days a week. In his case their grandmother won preference over him

as the daytime carer for the children.A spokesman for CAFCASS said: "We

want to work with a variety of groups to promote the interests of

children in the family courts but we cannot work with organisations that

behave in an unacceptable way. "We respect the right to peaceful

protest, but previous activities by this group have intimidated and

distressed staff as well as families in the offices at the time."Members

of this group have also been found guilty of causing criminal damage to

CAFCASS property."CAFCASS is impartial and recognises that children

generally benefit from a continuing relationship with both parents after

family breakdown."We have recently set up a user-interests group to

develop the service which includes representatives from fathers' and

grandparents' groups."There is no question of there being a bias against

one parent in favour of another."