Headlined in the Guardian on Christmas Day 2019:

Thousands of children in care are increasingly being placed in homes that are illegal or unregulated, in what critics have labelled a national scandal, a Guardian investigation has found. A lack of places to house vulnerable children in the UK is prompting a surge in placements that are less safe. These include those that are unregulated or not registered with Ofsted. MPs, the police, charities and the children’s commissioner warn that children accommodated in these homes are at risk of exploitation from sexual predators and drug gangs.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/dec/25/revealed-thousands-children-care-unregulated-homes

As always, the report conflates England and the UK but has nothing to say of Scotland in the content. This is not surprising. As we reported in July of this year:

Children in residential settings are particularly vulnerable to sexual abuse by adults working in those settings who are responsible for their welfare. Yet the Inquiry has noted that there are no professional registration requirements in place for staff, other than social workers, working in children’s homes in England, unlike in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Even residential care for children have “rogue traders”