This section contains the nature of the case and procedural background.

The Department filed a petition alleging that Ilona was a child in need of care and protection. The Juvenile Court found that Ilona's mother and father were 'currently unfit and that their unfitness was 'likely to continue into the indefinite future to a near certitude.' The judge dispensed with the need for her parents' consent to adoption, guardianship, or custody. The Department proposed that Ilona be adopted by her current foster parents. The judge also found that a significant attachment existed between Ilona and her mother and that continued contact between them was in Ilona's best interest, but declined to enter an order as to the frequency or extent of contact between them, concluding that these decisions were 'best left to the informed decision making' of Ilona's preadoptive parents. The mother appealed. The Appeals Court concluded that the judge did not err in terminating the mother's parental rights but that he abused his discretion in not ordering visitation with the mother. Mother and Ilona appealed.

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