the workhouses were so messed up that local governments would sell the disabled children that went in as "apprentices" (which means they didn't need to be paid wages) to local factories which worked out that feeding them enough food to not starve to death cost more than replacing them.
Never hear Brits say "things were better when we sent kids to the workhouses!" (look this up. it really happened in Victorian England)
the workhouses were so messed up that local governments would sell the disabled children that went in as "apprentices" (which means they didn't need to be paid wages) to local factories which worked out that feeding them enough food to not starve to death cost more than replacing them.
that was a deeply fucked up system
And we continued with this sort of approach until the 1970s with religious organisations. Eg The Magdalenas