ABSTRACT The principle aim is to analyse care policies and mothers' employment patterns in Austria in comparison with The Netherlands and Sweden. While Sweden fosters a Universal Breadwinner Model, Austrian policies set incentives for mothers to organize private care for their children for a relatively long period of time, similar to the Caregiver Parity model. The Netherlands, approaching the Universal Caregiver model, support part-time integration into the labour market, combined with private part-time caring facilities for the children. The cross-national comparative approach has been adopted throughout the description of care policies and the data analysis, using the European Social Survey. Drawing on the strong cross-national differences in policies and employment patterns, we outline the main principles of a Universal Care Course (UCC). The model addresses questions about how to achieve the ideal of a smooth transition between work and care in a gender-sensitive way.