Christina L. v. Chauncey B.

I. BACKGROUND1

The two children were born in 2000 and 2002. It appears that Mother and Father’s

1 Father did not file a respondent’s brief. As a result, we may accept as true the facts stated in Mother’s opening brief. (Smith v. Smith (2012) 208 Cal.App.4th 1074, 1077–1078.) “However, we do not treat the failure to file a respondent’s brief as a ‘default’ (i.e., an admission of error), but examine the record, appellant’s brief, and any oral argument by appellant to see if it supports any claims of error made by the appellant.” (In re Marriage of Riddle (2005) 125 Cal.App.4th 1075, 1078, fn. 1; Cal. Rules of Court, rule 8.220(a)(2).)

1 relationship was marred by domestic violence on Father’s part, and by 2004, they were no longer living together. Mother obtained a temporary restraining order against Father in 2004, based on her assertions that he committed abuse, including pulling her hair and squeezing her hand so hard as she held car keys that her hand bled, bending the car keys, and that he grabbed the steering wheel of the car in which she was driving with the children, threw her, punched her, strangled her, and kicked and “stomped” her. Mother obtained another temporary…