Lumos is the name of J.K. Rowling’s charity supporting children’s rights and welfare. Rowling founded the organization in 2005, when it was originally called the Children’s High Level Group.
The charity focuses on ending the institutionalization of children and helping them move into family-based care or appropriate community services. Its work has included advocacy and projects in countries such as the Czech Republic, Moldova, Bulgaria and Haiti. Lumos argues that large institutions can harm children by separating them from family and community life.
The name Lumos comes from the Harry Potter spell that produces light, linking the organization to Rowling’s fictional world while expressing its real-world aim of bringing hidden problems into public view. It is not the same as Comic Relief or Book Aid International, which are separate charities. Lumos’s work is centered especially on children in institutional care and systems affecting vulnerable families.