According to the information you have provided, he has already filed for custody. So, he has initiated a custody action.

When a custody action is initiated, a hearing date usually follows soon thereafter. Parents absolutely must attend any hearing concerning the custody of their children, or timely request a continuance in writing if some emergency prohibits them from showing up.

It is also important in a contested custody case to respond in writing to petitions filed. This response is usually in the form of a formal answer filed by an attorney. However, when one is unable to afford an attorney and cannot get one through legal aid, the only remaining option is to hire an attorney to draft the document or prepare without legal assistance and file it pro se. Some courts have answer forms available, some will allow you to see one that has been filed previously in another case to use a as a guide, while other pro se respondents may instead go to a local legal library and pull a form book to help them with drafting their answer.

In any case, it is important to respond in writing, because the court needs to know all of the facts to make any decision, including a temporary or interim decision. And, until a response is filed or until a hearing is held, the only alleged facts that the court has are those made by the petitioner.

If Paternity is at issue, as it appears to be here, then it is important that it be brought to the court's attention as well. This is usually done as part of the responsive pleading, and ordinarily a dna test is also requested. (Please note, in some courts the person requesting the dna test also has to pay for it.)

Once everything has been filed, a contested custody case proceeds as you might imagine - paternity is either established or disproved. If it turns out that the petitioner is not the father, then he would not be entitled to the same rights as a parent. However, if it is determined that the petitioner is the father, then both sides present their witnesses and evidence to support their cases as to who the court should give the child to.

I would suggest that the mother schedule an appointment with an attorney who works in the area where the petition has been filed as soon as possible to discuss all the particulars of the case that we are not able to discuss here. While we are not allowed to provide legal advice, a local lawyer could provide her that and more, and she can review the paperwork that has been filed and get a better idea of where she stands at this time and what she needs to do next.