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Alcoholic and Chemically Dependent Parents and Child Custody

Posted by Gerald Williams 
· January 30, 2012 
· 4 Comments

If a couple with children separates, and one of the parents is alcoholic or chemically dependent, should the family court:

a.    Terminate the addictive parent’s parental rights;

b.    Restrict and/or supervise the addictive parent’s parenting time;

c.    Condition the addictive parent’s parenting time on his or her sobriety; or

d.    Leave alcoholism or chemical dependency out of the custody and parenting time decision altogether?

It depends, but in nearly all cases, options (a) and (d) would be ruled out.  Option (d) is too extreme.  The family court needs to address the totality of the child’s circumstances in order to determine what is in the child’s best interests.  There is no way to comprehensively consider the child’s best interests if a parent’s addiction to drugs or alcohol is ignored.

Option (a) is too extreme in the other direction.  If an addictive parent’s parental rights were terminated, there would be other factors involved, such as criminal or abuse issues, persistent neglect of the child, the posing of significant danger to the child, or repeated failure to seek treatment for his or her addiction.

Option (b) is the most likely scenario if the addictive parent is not properly addressing the addiction, or is in the preliminary stages of recovery.  Restrictions and/or supervision are necessary to protect the child from the potential risk of being in the care of an impaired parent.

Option (c) is the common arrangement if the parent has learned how to manage his or her addiction. With proper management of addiction and sustained sobriety, the custody and parenting arrangements can be normalized.  There may need to be a backup plan for both parents to follow in the case of a relapse. Better still is a parenting plan with healthy co-parenting and communication that encourages the addictive parent to self-assess or self-report if his or her sobriety is tested or threatened, so that he or she is in no way deterred from doing the right thing for the child.  It is really no different than the circumstances of any child whose parents must rise to the occasion when coping with an emergency situation.

Being alcoholic or chemically dependent should not serve as an automatic disqualification for a parent to have primary custody or liberal parenting time.  Many parents who have overcome addiction are as equipped, or better equipped, to care for children as a parent who has not met those kinds of challenges. Consider a child whose parents are both addicts.  Option (c) is a necessary component in those circumstances, and the parents’ mutual accountability for sobriety is paramount.  Otherwise, the child is, by default, living in unsafe and uncertain circumstances.

There is no simple or quick answer to the questions that arise when child custody and parenting time are determined in cases of one or two alcoholic or chemically dependent parents.  If the issue is given proper weight, neither amplified nor ignored, the children are given the safe and secure living environment that they deserve.

4 Comments
Categories : Child Custody
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Comments

  1. Bruce Fisher says:
    February 16, 2012 at 5:15 pm

    This is a great post, thank you for sharing.
    In particular, I enjoyed your comment “Many parents who have overcome addiction are as equipped, or better equipped, to care for children as a parent who has not met those kinds of challenges.”
    The most common – and likely most effective – course of treatment for addiction is 12 step programs. And the primary benefit of 12 step programs is that participants become better people – and thus better parents.

    Reply
  2. Will Beaumont (New Orleans divorce lawyer) says:
    March 7, 2012 at 2:15 pm

    I agree with option ‘b’. There a certainly functional alcoholics, but it is important that they be able to exercise visitation responsibly. For instance, what happens if they are impaired and their child has an emergency, will they respond differently if they are under the influence?

    Reply
  3. Rebecca Clark says:
    November 24, 2017 at 3:54 pm

    I understand completely what was posted. I have a but to all of this. What do you do when you been married for 16 yrs to an alcoholic who REFUSES to get help, REFUSES to see they have a problem and don’t care about their children if they need food, clothes and love. They continue to drink and drink. Do they still have the right for visitation or supervised visitation or Is it wise to think they be safe in the hands of a drunk?

    Reply
    • Gerald Williams says:
      April 11, 2018 at 2:24 am

      If the court finds that the parent refuses to get help and refuses to acknowledge the problem, then the court is likely to restrict their parenting time.

      Reply

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