When I was growing up, it was only natural for me to ask my parents about what life was like when they were growing up. He grew up in St. Patrick's Orphanage in Montreal, Quebec.
Orphanages are real and did exist.
In fact, some still exist today in the 1990s. Not all of them are the same as Dicken's image in Oliver Twist and not all orphans are as well-adjusted as Anne in Anne of Green Gables . In the 18th century we first see orphanages in England and Europe. People did not live long lives as we do now and many woman died during childbirth leaving a number of uncared for children. Many women also carried illegitimate children that they could not provide for and consequently these children learned to live on the streets at a very young age.