Sole and permanent custody

I never married my sons father and went I went to court, I requested and recieved sole custody of my son, at the time he was 3. My sons father hasn’t seen him since november of 2005. he was served but never showed up for court so it was pretty much by default. Financially, he makes anywhere from 6-8k a month and could have, at any time, come to visit his son. For the past 2 years, I’ve been with a wonderful man who, in every sense of the word, is there for my son. Financially, emotionally, physically, he’s taken on the roll as father and my son asked him if he could call him dad. They have a great realtionship and my fiance is taking the time to do everything a father would for him. He’s the one teaching my son how to be a man. My sons father no longer calls but will ‘email’ me once in a while asking ‘ how’s my son doing?’ when he decided to not show up for court, he pretty much gave up the chance to ask for visitation. He’d have to go back to court and request that now if he wanted it. I didn’t ask for child support ( I knew he’d never pay plus I was afraid of him at that time). I’m in california and he’s in texas. Are his parental rights removed or just his custodial rights? What’s the difference? From what I understand about sole and permanent custody, I don’t have to notify him of anything, address, phone numbers, status of my son, nothing…