How does an addiction affect child custody?

Child custody exists to protect the child, not to reward or punish the parents. You must neither hoard child custody to exploit your spouse not cling to it out of ego when you know your behavior doesn’t deserve your kids. No one asks to be an addict, but kids need two functional parents. The fact that you’re addicted doesn’t influence custody—how you behave does. One of my clients was a serious drug addict, but her addiction didn’t give her husband sole custody. He got custody because she left her inpatient treatment early and against medical advice, threw tantrums, and attempted suicide twice.