J.K. Rowling established the charity Lumos in 2005 to support children in institutions and promote family-based care.
The organization was originally launched as the Children’s High Level Group, following Rowling’s concern about children living in orphanages and other institutions. It later adopted the name Lumos, taken from a Harry Potter spell associated with creating light. The charity’s work focuses on helping governments and communities replace institutional care with systems that keep children with families or in family-like settings.
Lumos has worked internationally on deinstitutionalization, child protection, health, education, and social-care reform. Its approach emphasizes that poverty or disability should not, by itself, lead to a child being separated from family.
The organization’s name is sometimes mistaken for the name of a fictional magical institution, but Lumos is a real charitable organization founded by Rowling. Its work is separate from the Harry Potter books, even though its name draws on the series’ invented magical vocabulary.