Lumos

Lumos is the children's charity, founded by J.K. Rowling, working to put an end to the systematic institutionalisation of disadvantaged children. There are more than one million children growing up in residential institutions across Central and Eastern Europe. Many are from poor backgrounds or ethnic minorities; some have physical or intellectual disabilities. Separated from their families and isolated from their community, these children receive little human and emotional contact, or educational stimulus. Lumos believes that putting an end to the unnecessary incarceration of children in residential institutions is one form of child abuse we can eradicate in our lifetime. We are currently working in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Moldova and Montenegro on reform programmes that we hope will result in the closure of all institutions. Visit lumos.org.uk. ·