While arguments continue to be made in the custody cases involving 10 Cloquet children, Sixth District Carlton County judge Rebekah Stumme made her feelings clearly known Tuesday when it comes to how representatives for the adoptive mothers and those who want the children kept out of their homes are interacting in front of her court.

“Put away the knives,” Stumme said at the end of a hearing concerning petitioner Danielle Martineau — a relative who wants children removed from Dawn Ammesmaki’s care. The judge said she was dismayed by the tenor of the back-and-forth among attorneys an...