Re: How Do We Get Custody
Does your husband have a visitation order?
Also, no matter what happens with father and children, you'll be a legal stranger to the children unless mom's parental rights are terminated and you legally adopt them. So DAD can seek custody, but you won't legally be a part of that order if he's successful.
In order to BE successful in a quest for a change in primary custody, either (a) mom needs to agree to it, or (b) mom needs to be proven unfit (and no, being unemployed and living with 3 kids in a 1 bedroom isn't close), or (c) demonstrate to the court that some substantial change has occurred in the children's lives which is both related to mom having custody and which could be alleviated by a change in custody. In other words, things like "the children are too young to be left alone while mom works, but she frequently leaves them unsupervised", or "mom's living situation is so unstable that the children haven't been able to attend school", etc.