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There are prisons and a lot of " street people " belong in them. Workhouses and orphanages ceased to exist more than 100 years ago for the first and many decades ago for the later. Even with prisons and workhouses, street people existed in Dickens' time. Dickens', BTW , was a screaming liberal.

Workhouses and orphanages were NOT government sponsered; though, by the time Charlie wrote about them a few of the officials were. They were CHURCH sponsered and church run.And each parish ( Anglican/CofE )had one and charged the reisdents, of the parish, a tithe/tax. THis is an interesting topic, which few understand; even if they can quote from " A CHRISTMAS CAROL ".

I don't know about the screaming liberal part; maybe he was. However, I do know he could've been in this situation himself, but was very lucky. His dad went to debtors' prison, and his mother went to live with him. He stayed out and got a job when he was a very young child. He had to work to help his parents.

But he was lucky in the sense that he had an uncle who worked in a blacking factory, where they made stuff to put on shoes, (I think that's what it was). His uncle looked out for him, and kept him from dangerous and unsavory situations. Soon his folks got out.

He grew up and of course, became an author. But the youthful experience of his family living in bitter conditions, and him having to work when he shouldn't have had to, taught him about people around him. Many of his characters were drawn from people he worked and lived among. Many of them weren't very pretty! But he put them in his stories too!