Does seem a particularly odious thing to say to children in care, if true.
If we are ever to broaden the base of MPs away from the current clique of largely white, largely privileged,only ever worked in politics type of candidates though, to get greater representation in the House of people with more relevant experience of life in modern day Britain, we will have to accept that some unguarded,offensive, crass or just plain clumsy comments might well become more commonplace. Seems to me that political parties right now are petrified of the notion of a loose cannon or an unguarded comment, meaning they chose the "one of us" safe option for candidate selection.
I do not, for instance, think that this councillor should be hounded out of office, but he should be challenged on his statement and forced to either attempt to justify it, or withdraw it with profuse apologies.