Adoption of Linus

After a trial with intermittent hearings over a period of fourteen months on a care and protection petition filed by the Department of Children and Families (department) in 2002, a judge of the Juvenile Court adjudicated the biological mother and father unfit to parent their children Linus and Malcolm and terminated their parental rights pursuant to G. L. c. 210, § 3. *816Both the mother and father appeal, claiming, among other things, that the judge erred in mling each of them unfit and in terminating their parental rights.

1. Procedural background. On December 9, 2002, the department filed a…