Orphanages are stick and brick, permanent homes for children, like Boys Town. The one I remember was run by nuns and was a large collection of beautiful brick buildings on several acres of well-landscaped land. They have sometimes been horrific centers of abuse, like some in Ireland where illegitimate children are scorned and nuns deliberately killed children. Before that, there were workhouses as in Oliver Twist. They did need oversight. The better ones have small "homes" in the whole collective, where a group can develop cohesion and history, and also where abuse can more easily be spotted.

Foster care is parcelling out children or adults to caregivers, usually in a home setting. Fewer children. The smaller numbers and home setting are the pluses. Otherwise, the government is running it with all the problems that come with bureaucracy and there is no guarantee for the clients that they will stay. They get shuffled around a lot, some of them. Sometimes it is because they are just very hard to care for, and many develop emotional and behavior problems. Sometimes it is the whim of case workers. Many in foster care have parents and were taken from them by CPS, so there is an associated legal battle. I might add that adopted children also sometimes are rejected by their adoptive parents and get shuffled back into foster care or readopted. Truly, I think this is worse than less-than-perfect parents and that virtue signaling by both would-be parents and caseworker contributes to it happening.