Care & Protection of Elaine

This is an appeal by a father and his three minor children from a judgment placing the children in the permanent custody of the Department of Social Services (department) on the ground that their parents are currently unfit and the children are in need of care and protection.2 The children, whom we refer to as Elaine, Frank, and Maureen, also appeal from the denial by the judge of their motion for a new trial. Their appeals have been consolidated.

The father and children claim that the evidence and the judge’s findings are insufficient to find him unfit. Although the judge’s subsidiary…