We live in a nation where it’s now a majority of adults who don’t have kids. (sorry, can’t quote the source, so it may or may not be a good statistic.) As this continues, expect more callous behavior.
Their having kids themselves is no guarantee of responsible behavior (in many cases these days, it’s proof of quite the opposite!) Some woman in Georgia hit a little girl, then backed up over her again in order to maneuver her car. She killed her of course. The woman who did this had kids of her own. IIRC, she got pretty much a slap on the wrist for doing it.
But I know what you meant. Back when kids implied a married (to each other) father and mother, it probably meant more.