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Mother Who Lost Daughters In Fire Will Get Supervised Visits With Son

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POMPANO BEACH (CBSMiami) - A judge has ruled that a two-year-old boy, who lost his two sisters over the weekend in a fire in Pompano Beach, will remain in foster care.

Five-month-old Abigail Espinoza and her 5-year-old sister Sofia Melendez died in their mothers' Banyan Club apartment that went up in flames Saturday just after 9 a.m.

Firefighters found the girls deceased in a bedroom.

The girls' mother, 23-year-old Jocelyn Melendez, had gone to work and left her 17-year-old sister to babysit all of her children.

The teen took Melendez's two-year-old son with her to buy milk at the store, leaving the two girls alone in the apartment when the fire erupted.

During Tuesday's hearing, the judge said that Melendez and the boy's father, who was also the father of one of the girls that died, could have supervised visits with their son.

A separate hearing was held for the 17-year-old, who is from Honduras, because she too is in foster care and her older sister is her 'legal guardian'.

A lawyer for the boy's father said they believe the fire was electrical. Pompano Beach Fire Rescue says it is still under investigation.

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