In Re Jean Marie W.

OPINION

SHEA, Justice.

This matter comes before the Supreme Court on appeal from a decision of the Providence County Family Court granting four petitions filed by the Department for Children and Their Families (DCF) on behalf of two infant sisters. The two initial petitions, filed by DCF on March 23, 1987, sought to remove the girls from the respondent-mother’s custody on allegations of abuse and neglect in violation of G.L.1956 (1984 Reenactment) chapter 11 of title 40, and G.L.1956 (1981 Reenactment) chapter 1 of title 14. The later two petitions, filed on June 2, 1987, further alleged that,…