ESCANABA — A civil trial resumed Monday in Delta County to decide the rights of parents of two girls whose Rapid River home was found to be unsafe and unsanitary the day one child was found lying naked outside in the snow last spring.

Delta County Probate Court Judge Robert Goebel Jr. presided over the case in June and will hear more witness testimony throughout the week — including psychological reports on the family — before deciding if there are legal grounds for the parental rights to be taken away from Michael Lavoie, 31, and Tammy Fryer, 30.

The parents’ rights were terminated last spring due to reports of their home not being fit for their two daughters to live in as well as physical neglect and improper supervision of the two girls who are both developmentally delayed.

Though social services had prior concerns with the family, action was taken to remove the two children — ages 3 and 5 then — from the home on March 17 when officials investigated the family’s living conditions.

The investigation was conducted after a neighbor notified police he had found the youngest daughter, now 4 years old, lying naked in a ditch. The neighbor’s dog had alerted its owner about the child being outside that morning.