A booklet or pamphlet was published by the London Orphan Asylum outlining the charity’s mission and rules.  It describes itself as the kind of strict institution, set on imbuing orphaned children and 'whaifs' with life skills and a righteous moral code.  These institutions were underfunded, understaffed and corporal punishment was common.

Professor John Mullan explains the commonplace nature of institutions like these in hos article on Orphans in Victorian Fiction, and even references their appearance in Jane Eyre, explaining how typical their struggles were for abandoned children, "Jane Eyre is barely cared for by her unloving aunt, and is tormented by her cousins. She is then packed off to the appalling Lowood School, where most of the pupils are similarly abandoned. When she arrives she meets her fellow pupil Helen Burns, who tells her that ‘all the girls here have lost either one or both parents, and this is called an institution for educating orphans’ (ch. 5).  Jane dubs the institution ‘the Orphan Asylum’, using a term that was common in the mid-19th century for institutions founded, like Lowood, by philanthropic donation and maintained by charitable donations" (Mullan).  He also notes that "Parentless protagonists like Jane and Jude are frighteningly vulnerable to prejudice and cruelty" (Mullan).

Mullan, John.  "Orphans in Fiction" British Library.  15 May 2014. Accessed 10/21/21. https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/orphans-in-fiction.