Children in care deserve better Children in care have poor enough life chances without being subjected to the gross inadequacy of much of the care home system. Tim Loughton, the Children's Minister, told MPs yesterday that many privately run homes are clustered in run-down resorts (where property is cheap) alongside "known sex offenders, sex offenders" hostels and people out of prison on licence." For example, 15 known sex offenders live in the same street as several children's homes in Margate. In other words, the most vulnerable young people in society are being placed by the state in the midst of those who would prey on them. This grotesque state of affairs is testimony to the way successive governments have neglected the interests of these children. It is not for the want of money. The average annual cost of keeping a child in care is £200,000. It is evident that the taxpayer is not getting value for money and too many children are not getting the upbringing they have a right to expect. As many as 200 homes - more than 10 per cent of the total - are likely to be failed in a new round of inspections. Such a high failure rate once again raises questions about whether Ofsted, the schools inspectorate, is the right body to monitor care homes. The situation is further exacerbated by perverse legal restrictions on the sharing of information, which mean that neither social services nor the police are able routinely to check the location of the homes. Mr Loughton intends to summon the worst-offending local authorities for a dressing-down. The minister must go further. In her report on the sexual exploitation of children in care, Sue Berelowitz, the deputy children's commissioner, has called for a ban on children's homes in high-risk areas. It should be implemented immediately: that is the very least these young people deserve.