In Re Stephanie

OPINION

KELLEHER, Justice.

This is an appeal from a decree of the Family Court terminating the parental rights of a mother, to whom we shall hereinafter refer as Susan. The termination hearing was based upon a petition instituted by the Department of Children and Their Families (DCF or the department) on the grounds that Susan was an unfit parent by “reason of conduct or conditions seriously detrimental to the child * * * [namely] [e]motional illness, mental illness, [or] mental deficiency * * * of such duration as to render it improbable for the parent to care for the child for an extended…