This talk will explore what it is like to parent at the margins of legitimacy within contemporary adoption and child welfare systems. Specifically, it will examine how LGBTQ+ families shoulder unequal burdens and face stratified risks across both family formation and family preservation. In adoption and foster care, LGBTQ+ prospective parents are often more likely to be matched with children who have significant mental health, physical health, and academic needs, reflecting both their openness to higher-need placements and enduring hierarchies that privilege heterosexual couples for “lower-risk” children. Once formed, however, LGBTQ+ adoptive parent families frequently encounter discrimination, inadequate institutional support, and heightened scrutiny in educational, mental health, and child welfare settings. The challenges that these families face are increasingly the focus of research, and yet families are also blamed for any problems that may surface as a result of their disproportionate risk. This talk will also address a rarely-discussed topic: namely, the risks facing LGBTQ+ parents who may be at risk of losing their (often biological) children to the child welfare system itself. LGBTQ+ parents–particularly transgender parents, LGBTQ+ parents of color, and low-income LGBTQ+ parents face disproportionate surveillance and risk of child removal, which fosters fear of state intervention. Although focused primarily on U.S. research, international coverage will be included; in turn, the topics discussed will be situated within broader international debates about stratified reproduction, family legitimacy, and the governance of marginalized parents.