Ex Is Violating Protection Order And Visitation Agreement, Kidnapped Our Kids, And Assaulted My Family Member

My ex and I have two children in elementary school. There is a protection order in place from 2021. He has a history of mental illness and has been abusive towards me. I never called the police when he was abusive because I had some experience with filing domestic violence charges in a previous relationship, and I did not have much faith in the police. I felt that he would have no consequences and it would make things more dangerous for me. I did document some of my injuries over the years (split lip, bruises, cuts, handprint and broken skin on my neck after being strangled). I have photos and some messages I sent to friends. When I finally filed for a civil protection order, the lawyers worked out a visitation schedule. We were never married, so I have custody, but he is allowed visitation every other weekend (Friday- Sun) and every other Tuesday. The children are also covered on the protection order, with those agreed -upon visitation days being an exception. Last week, on Thursday, he intercepted the school bus to take my kids. My father was waiting by the bus stop to pick up the kids since I was at work. My ex ambushed my father and beat him up pretty badly (black eye, nose that looked like it might be broken, blood streaming from his mouth and nose). He took the kids and refuses to return them. My father filed a police report for the assault. The police took photos, but there were no witnesses, and they do not seem to be taking this very seriously. They did not interview my ex, visit him, or try to take pictures of him (I'm sure his hands were damaged). I went to police station as well, showed them my protection order and visitation agreement, and told them that he was violating it by taking the kids. The police told me it was a civil matter and to contact a lawyer. Is that correct? I thought that if he violated the protection order, he was committing a crime and the police could arrest him. Although, I know that doesn't mean they have to arrest him. Still, it seems like someone should be taking this seriously. My ex is violent, mentally ill, assaulted someone in my family and basically kidnapped my kids. He is refusing to return them and has said in texts he will let me visit them, but they aren't coming home with me, and then he encouraged me to just "give up and let (him) keep them." It is even worse that this happened on a holiday weekend when I cannot go to a court until Tuesday at the earliest, and I honestly think my ex is unstable and dangerous. I have been able to talk to the kids a few times on the phone, but only with it on speaker phone, and he is listening. I've contacted Legal Aid, but I don't know if or when I would hear from them. I don't have money for an attorney. I did contact their elementary school on Friday to let them know the situation, and they said that he did not bring them to school and had called them off. A staff member at the school was concerned by my story, and she contacted CPS, but she seems to be the only person who is very concerned. I did try to follow up with Willoughby police to see if they had attempted to contact him about the assault, but I was just told to leave a message for the officer.
I'm just really not sure what all of my next steps should be, and I want to make sure I do everything I can to bring my kids back home as soon as possible. I am planning to go to the courthouse on Tuesday, but I don't even know what I should be filing. Any advice would be appreciated. Sorry this is so long.