R.I. Gen. Laws § 8-10-4
To the family court shall also be referred for hearing, adjustment, reconciliation, decision, and sentence all causes properly brought in the court or appealed from other courts in which the defendant is accused, as provided by the statutes, of abandonment of his wife or her husband or children, or both, leaving them in danger of becoming public charges; of neglect to provide according to their means for his wife or her husband or children, or both; of neglect or refusal of an habitual drunkard to aid in the support of his or her family; of neglect or refusal by a child over eighteen (18) years of age to provide for the support and maintenance of his or her father or mother; or of threat to commit a crime or offense against the person or property of the defendant's husband, wife, children, father, or mother.
R.I. Gen. Laws § 8-10-4