Child Custody Case Guidance

I have never responded and a child custody case in the state of California, the petitioner is my son's father who hasn't seen my son in over 2 years. Hasn't paid a dime to support our son, I had to block his phone number due to abusive and harassing text messages which I have 3 years worth of printed out for the judge to look at. He was arrested twice in the two years he was gone once was for domestic violence the chargers were dismissed a year later. The second arrest was for a failure to follow judge or judge's orders so he got a probation revocation order for a domestic violence case back in *. He just showed back up, and is requesting joint custody. What should I do?

Kaiden (minor child) has been under my (Respondent/Mother) care since his birth */*/* and exclusively so since his father (Petitioner) left on */*/*. We live in an apartment in the June Lake Village, Kaiden and his older brother share a bedroom with plenty of room for activities and play. Right down the street are Kaiden’s daycare, Gull Lake Park, and the home of his uncle Anthony (Respondent’s Brother), aunt Ashley, and two cousins Mackenzie (*) and Harper (*). Kaiden is a loving, smart, sweet, active and well-adjusted toddler. His three favorite things are scooping dirt in his sandbox with his excavator, singing and dancing to his favorite artist “BLIPPI” and eating all the watermelon he can get his hands on. He has family and friends that all have very active rolls in his life. He attends daycare 2 days a week from 9am to 5pm (Thursdays & Fridays) where he gets to learn, play and socialize with his friends. On weekends his older brother Calvin is with us (during school year) and alternating time * weeks (with us), * week with his father (during summer). I currently work nights Friday thru Monday from 4pm to 10pm (Friday, Sunday, Monday) and my parents and/or other friend or family member watch the in boys until I pick them up after work. I work from 5pm until *-1am (bartending) on Saturday nights the boys always spend the night with my parents and attend Sunday School at Church with their Grandmother Kelly Marzano (Respondent’s Mother) after which they are dropped off with me at our home. I have never been opposed to Michael having a relationship with Kaiden. I told him he knew where we lived and he was welcome to see Kaiden anytime, over TWO YEARS have passed and Michael has yet to show any parental responsibility by helping financially or establishing a relationship with our son. Kaiden deserves to have both parents in is life, but not to have his life, routine, and physical and emotional bonds to his family, friends, and community abruptly and significantly disrupted by giving his father (Petitioner) who is a complete stranger to him (Kaiden) what he is requesting, and doing so would not be in his best interest. (Please see true and correct photograph copies of Kaiend’s life, attached herein as’Exhibit *’)*. The Petitioner has had extremely limited physical and/or emotional contact with our son Kaiden since choosing to leave on */*/* and has had NO contact at all since */*/*. Petitioner has also failed to help financially support Kaiden in any way since he left on */*/*. (Please see true and correct print out of text message conversations between Father and Mother, dated */*/* and */*/*, attached herein as ‘Exhibit *’). *. The Petitioner has a proven pattern of abusive, violent and erratic behavior. Since meeting Michael I have personally experienced continual emotional and verbal abuse which began escalating on */*/* when I was requesting his address to file custody and support papers with the court (which he refused to give), this continued through */*/* when I completely stopped responding to him. He continued the abusive and harassing messages until they stopped on */*/*. On */*/* Michael was arrested in Mariposa County and charged with PC * MISD: FALSE IMPRISONMENT and PC *.*(a) FEL: INFLICT CORPORAL INJURY ON SPOUUSE/COHABITANT/DATING RELATIONSHIP. On */*/* the case was DISMISSED for unknown reasons. On */*/* Michael was arrested in Madera County for Disturbing the peace and an active warrant for a probation violation for failing to follow the judge’s orders issued on */*/* stemming from a PRIOR DOMESTIC VIOLENCE case from */*/*. (Please see true and correct copy of original eviction notice Print outs of text message conversations between Father and Mother (EXHIBIT *), print outs from Mariposa County Superior Court public records portal (EXHIBIT *) and Madera County Superior Court public records portal (EXHIBIT *), attached herein as ‘Exhibit *‘, ‘Exhibit *’ and ‘Exhibit *’).

This is my responsive declaration