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."
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