For Vianne, the fact that Anouk is growing up and into a different person from the innocent little girl that she used to be. This fear comes to life in ''The Girl With No Shadow". Anouk becomes increasingly disappointed that her mother wants a conventional life without magic and denies it, which allows Zozie to get close to both of them.
For Caroline Clairmont, her estranged mother is a diabetic who doesn't take care of herself and refuses to let others boss her around. Caro is a Jerkass but when her mother has a fit and nearly dies from not taking insulin, Caro's Oh, Crap! and calling for her mother makes her quite empathetic. There's also the fact that she attends her mother's party and feels guilty on learning her mother deliberately planned to die.
Vianne's mother Jeanne isn't actually her mother; Jeanne stole "Sylviane Caillou" from another woman, Michele, who lived in the apartment across. As an adult, Vianne found articles that Jeanne kept of the incident, and Michele is close to Tears of Joy when she and Vianne reconcile.
Her daughter Rosette has cri du chat, a real syndrome that is incurable.
In The Girl With No Shadow a priest and a social worker tracked her down and tried to take Rosette and Anouk away.
The movie
Adaptation Displacement: Most people have not heard of the original novel, and Joanne Harris herself has described the film as "milk chocolate" while the novel is along the lines of "dark chocolate".