No child custody order/move away/california
[F]
Hello. I have 3 children (5,3,1) with the man I have been living with. We are unmarried. There is a history of abusive behavior on his part. In November, I called the police after he got drunk and threatened me in front of our kids. He was arrested for criminal threat. I stupidly had the domestic violence restraining order modified to give him another chance. I really want to leave here with our kids, because it is getting bad again.
I was wanting to possibly move to my home state of Indiana, where all of my family resides. I'm getting fearful of leaving my children while I work, and I'm afraid I will have to leave my job. I do not want to deny my children their father.
Then again, I don't want to remain in a volatile environment any longer. The father signed the declaration of paternity, and is listed on the birth certificate, but we have never been to court for custody/paternity/support, etc. He has been staying home for the past few years (he is refusing to work), so I've worked to support us. However, most of the parenting has been left to me, such as appointments, bathing, outings, and the like.
I apologize for the length of this post.
I am looking for any information you members could give me about how I should proceed, what are the odds I would be allowed to move, etc.
Thank you for your time.