ABSTRACT This article examines the role of family policy in shaping mothers’ choice between work and care and the perceived occupational consequences of that choice. A central question concerns how parental/maternal leave and childcare policies affect the occupational consequences for mothers who spend time on full-time caring. Using comparative data from the second round of the 2004/05 European Social Survey, the analysis shows that the duration of career interruption due to care-giving and different care policies influence mothers’ subjective feelings about caring for children having negative consequences for their careers. On the one hand, our findings confirm the hypothesis that long-term absence from the labour market due to full-time care has negative consequences for women's occupational careers. On the other hand, our findings show that countries with well paid leave schemes combined with access to high quality childcare reduce the perceived negative occupational consequences of the time spent on full-time care. This is the case independently of the duration of the career interruption due to care-giving.