Yes just because you aren't blood and you raise/help raise a kid, you are the parent. To change the verbiage is diminishing to the task, even though you don't mean it to be.
Who's more of a parent, the guy who knocks up a woman and leaves forever, or the step-dad who actually raises the kid for 18+ years?
That's the whole point, lots of people ARE parents but aren't child raisers. Even traditional fathers who are part of the family but do not raise their kids because they expect their wife to ARE parents but are not primary raisers of their kids.
Both of those words would apply to the dad in that example. Sure, you could qualify it as "primary caretaker" but that would likely be claimed by any person considering themselves "head of the family" whether they're the ones spending most time with the children or not.
The idea was to specifically include caretakers/guardians who are not parents (e.g. older siblings, grandparents or uncles/aunts) but also exclude those who do not take an active role (or take a less active role) in the actual caretaking. If my spouse does the brunt of all the caretaking, I may still be a caretaker or guardian but I don't need daycare in order to be able to work (though daycare may enable my spouse to work).
Who's more of a parent, the guy who knocks up a woman and leaves forever, or the step-dad who actually raises the kid for 18+ years?