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Tuesday, Apr 19, 2011 11:33 PM UTC

Charlie Sheen loses custody of twins, but are both parents unfit?

Brooke Mueller gets to keep her 2-year-old twins, but no one's winning in this story

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Topics: Charlie Sheen, Drugs, Movies,

Charlie Sheen loses custody of twins, but are both parents unfit?Charlie's sons Max and Bob lived in house with his two "goddesses."

With all the hubbub surrounding Charlie Sheen and his ridiculous antics, it’s hard to remember there are young lives at stake here. No, not Charlie’s hooker/porn star “goddesses,” but his five children. Especially the 2-year-old twins he has with ex-wife Brooke Mueller, Max and Bob. It was disturbing to see Sheen’s sons living with him and his “new family” during that “20/20″ interview: You had to wonder why Brooke hadn’t swooped down during his drug arrest and demanded her kids be kept away from their publicly intoxicated father. Who was allowing them to be televised during this freak show?

We may have a clearer understanding of that after today’s custody trial. Brooke Mueller retained full custody of Max and Bob, despite the allegation that, four days ago, she was calling friends in a desperate attempt to find drug-free urine. Yes, Mueller has publicly relapsed from crack cocaine, but she got to keep her children, despite “looking unsteady on her feet” and “glassy-eyed” after the hearing.

Two days ago, the website GossipCop.com reported that Mueller was already back in rehab after failing the drug test for the custody agreement. Obviously, she was not in rehab today, so this may be a lot of Internet conjecture. What’s not gossip, however, is the fact that both of Bob and Max’s parents have spent their recent years in and out of rehabs for crack and cocaine problems. Their parents are both obsessed with reality TV (Brooke had a pilot with Paris Hilton fail, which apparently set off her recent spiraling) and aren’t above using their kids as leverage, as we’ve already seen from the Sheen interviews. It’s hard not to wonder if the children wouldn’t be better off in foster care.

Even sadder is how often cases like these go through the court system. It’s only when celebrities are involved that we sit up and take notice.

Drew Grant is a staff writer for Salon. Follow her on Twitter at @videodrew. More Drew Grant.

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