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In Quebec, several institutional programs lead to judges being especially invested in cases questioning the abilities of separating parents to take care of their children. An ethnographic study conducted in three courts shows how judges and lawyers give credence to accusations of deviance and identifies the structural consequences of these accusations, rooted in social relations of class, “race” and gender. Judicial control proves to be quite unequal, heavily differentiating between paternal and maternal roles and weighing more heavily on working class people under court jurisdiction, especially those from immigrant backgrounds.