And I don't discount that there are some really bad choices out there.
Additionally, anecdotally, I think that dual income, dual degreed "professional" couples are more likely to be away from home than the poorer demographic. If you only moved down the street from your parents and siblings, there's more family help available than the couple in the story who flew Grandpa to Seattle from Texas.
I know from friends, in FL at least, the regulatory burden to do "childcare" is very high. Several friends of mine, when they decided to have one person stay at home and watch the kids started the idea that that parent could watch a few (~4) children of friends and kid's classmates to offset the cost of lost income. FL made that practically impossible to do between required classes, certifications, inspections and the like. Weird crap like you can't watch kids in your home unless it is fully ADA compliant, even if the kids aren't disabled. Just tons of regulations.*
One friend actually had to an issue after a divorce. His mom (retired) watched his kids after school, no problem. However, the divorce decree had a part in it about child care expenses, and since some of Ex-Wife's child support was ostensibly for child care, and Grandma was providing said childcare, Grandma was a "Child Care Professional, Unlicensed" according to DHS. He had to find paid for after school care.
I'm not sure what the answer is, but I suspect it's a combination of Parents tempering their expectations, and society making sure that our agencies regulating childcare are working in our best interests.
*I'm sure that some of those regs are a good idea, and some of them are written in Kid's blood. I'm not saying it should just be a free-for-all at day care, but taken as a whole you realistically can't have a Day Care unless it's a ~40 kid business. Not a lot of folks want to do that, which is where the under the table stuff BSL mentioned comes in.