The following is taken from a message by Pat Hase to the Glouceter mailing list
in answer to a similar question as yours.
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Quote:
Were there other relations still living in the area - for example
grandparents or uncles or aunts who might have taken them in and might they
have adopted another surname. A bit later on it was the custom for children
to be boarded out from Workhouses and "fostered" by local families and I
have seen them entered on censuses with the surname of the family who took
them in.