Up to the 1990s the development of family policy in Sweden and Finland was an integral part of the success story of the Nordic Welfare state. Nowhere else had the state assumed such wide-ranging responsibilities in supporting family welfare as in the Nordic countries. The Nordic model had its heyday in the late 1980s after which dark clouds gathered rapidly on the sunny sky and the model went through a rough period. This holds true especially for Sweden and Finland, where the economy collapsed, budget deficits soared and unemployment got out of hand. The 1990s provide laboratory-like conditions for researching Nordic family policies. During the 1970s and 1980s families were given generous promises concerning the state´s role in the welfare of families. How did the welfare states in Sweden and Finland succeed in keeping these promises during the hard times of the 1990s? Did the rise of Nordic family policy end with an abrupt decline in the 1990s?