History of Work-Family 

Policy

The first, most basic childcare legislation was put into place in 1919.  The legislation called for a "public-private partnership" of childcare.  Progressive policies led to an influx of immigrants during WWII seeking economic opportunity and the ability to foster families while still protesting fascist regimes.  The fairly liberal immigrants further influenced the population to continue to push for more progressive policies regarding work and the family.  Before WWII, the ideal of motherly care was dominant across Belgium.
This ideal shifted after the 50s into the present and reflected their "warm" ideal of care that children should be attended to by a family-like member in a home-like setting (very much influenced by their dominant Catholic population).  The new "surrogate mother" ideal of care prevailed in Belgium following WWII.  For more information on demographics and policy, see the "Childcare" section of this website.
Throughout the 70s and 80s, government social policies moved from "reactive" to "active".

• Religion and dominant right wing politics have also affected social patterns from the 70s and 80s on.  These shifts can be seen in:

• An overall rise in the age individuals left the home.

• An overal decline in cohabitation among unmarried individuals.

• Marriage and parenthood both occuring at an average later age than before.

References:
Alter, George.  1984.  “Work and Income in the Family Economy: Belgium, 1853 and
    1891”.  Journal of Interdisciplinary History 15(2): Pp. 255-276.
Kremer, Monique, 2002.  “The Illusion of Free Choice: Ideals of Care and Child Care
    Policy in the Flemish and Dutch Welfare States.”  Pp. 113-142 in Child Care Policy at the    
    Crossroads: Gender and Welfare State Restructuring, edited by S. Michel, and R. Mahon.  New
    York: Routledge.
Morelli, Anne.  2002.  “Nestore’s Wife?  Work, Family, and Militancy in Belgium”. 
    Pp.327-348 in Women, Gender and Transnational Lives: Italian Workers of the     World.  Toronto:    
    University of Toronto Press.
Vandenbroeck, Michel.  2006. “The Persistent Gap between Education and Care: a
    `History of the Present' Research on Belgian Child Care Provision and Policy.” Paedagogica Historica     42(3): 363-383.