In re Ashley S.

McDonald, j.

A parent has a fundamental right to rear his or her children without unwarranted interference by the State. This liberty interest, protected by the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution,1 occupies “a unique place in our legal culture, given the centrality of family life as the focus for *684personal meaning and responsibility” and is “essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness.”2 But this right is not absolute. It must be balanced against society’s obligation, exercised through the State, to ensure the child’s welfare.3

In this case, two young sisters who had been…