J.K. Rowling established the charity now called Lumos in 2005 as the Children’s High Level Group.
The organization began after Rowling and politician Emma Nicholson attended a 2004 article launch about children living in institutions in Central and Eastern Europe. They created the Children’s High Level Group to campaign for children’s rights and better alternatives to institutional care.
In 2010, the organization changed its name to Lumos, inspired by the light-producing spell in the Harry Potter books. The name reflects its stated aim of bringing children out of institutions and into family-based or community-based care.
Lumos focuses on ending the institutionalization of children worldwide. Its work includes research, advocacy, and support for systems that keep children with families or in family-like settings when they cannot live with their birth parents. It is separate from Rowling’s Volant Charitable Trust, another charitable foundation she established.