how can you support or refute the following statement by citing incidents from the story: "Charitable institutions only reproduced the horrible circumstances in whicj the poor already lived."

Many of the institutions meant to help the poor around early 1800's, and there were a lot of poor, were government or church run. The "Poor Law" of 1834 stipulated that any government handouts had to be earned in the workhouses. These workhouses were worse than prisons. Families were often split up and children were forced to work long hours in unspeakable conditions. Many felt it was better to take their chances on the streets. Church charity was often just a guise for making money from the vulnerable.