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Profiteering in the children's care system must be stamped out so nobody gets rich off the back of vulnerable boys and girls, the Children's Commissioner for England has demanded. Recent reports have delivered a devastating verdict on the care system, describing how children are still placed in "illegal homes" which are not registered with Ofsted at eye-watering costs to the taxpayer.

Children's Commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza found the average weekly cost of such a placement was more than £10,000. Children were housed in caravans, holiday camps or AirBnBs - sometimes for as long as three years. She estimated councils in England spent £353million on illegal children's homes last year, with 36 placements costing £1million each by September.

On Friday, a cross-party group of MPs warned that half of children in England are placed in locations more than 20 miles from their family homes. The inquiry highlighted concerns that private-equity backed providers of accommodation were more likely to have excessive profits.

Dame Rachel told the Express that more than half of the children housed illegally had "some of the most complex needs" and said it was a "failure" in children's services when "children are placed in illegal homes like caravans or holiday parks because there is no legal, safe alternative".

She said: "We need to intervene far earlier in these children's lives instead of spending huge sums on crisis care, investing in new and safe children's homes and recruiting more foster carers so children experience stability and love. And I want to see government accelerate its plans to curb profiteering - no-one should be getting rich off the back of vulnerable children."

Her research found that in September last year there were 669 children in illegal homes - of which 89 had been in the same placement for more than a year.

The charity Become - which helps people in care and care leavers - wants the plight of these children to be a national concern.

A spokesperson said: "The public must be made aware of what's happening to our children in care. Nothing shows more clearly that we have a care system in crisis when we're placing children in illegal homes, which can sometimes be caravans, barges - anything that's available.

"These are our most vulnerable children, children who've experienced real trauma. The care system should be a place where they can recover, heal and begin to thrive, but instead it's just subjecting them to more trauma."

Warning of the dangers of placing people far from home, the spokesperson added: "Going into care means going to live with people you don't know, and when that's also somewhere you don't know, away from everyone and everything that's familiar and that you love, it's incredibly damaging and hurtful."

The charity argues there should be foster homes and children's homes "where the children are, not just where property is cheap so private providers can max their profit".

The Department for Education says a new law will give "Ofsted the power to issue fines and take decisive action against illegal providers" and it is investigating £2.4billion in the "families first partnership programme to stop children entering care by keeping families together." Plans will also be unveiled to boost the number of foster homes in England.