Refuge for families

I'm having an interesting time randomly searching and finding my antecedents. It is not a little daunting to find my great grandmother at 9 years of age in the Thingoe Union Workhouse, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk along with 3 of her siblings. She appears to have spent at least a decade in this institution before marrying George Comber  and moving to Reigate Surrey...? So many unanswered questions....
I can't help pondering...150 odd years later , how many choices I have of every kind. I expect she had almost none.