Lumos celebrates its 20th anniversary year
27.02.2025
From when Lumos Founder and Life President, J.K. Rowling, first saw the horrific picture of a caged child in 2004 to today, Lumos has been on a global journey of learning and impact for children. We have achieved a lot, but there is much more to be done so that every child grows up in a safe and loving family.
Our 20th anniversary year is an opportunity to celebrate and reflect on the children and families we have reached, the lives we have helped change, and the lessons we have learned. It is also a moment of inflection – a launchpad year into our third decade.
Throughout the year, we will be focusing on and highlighting achievements, partnerships, donors and projects planned into the future that work towards our goal of ensuring all children grow up in safe and loving families within supported families. The celebrations and reflections will culminate in a week of global action and activity the week that kicks off on the day Lumos was created – 3rd November.
JK Rowling, Lumos Founder and Life President said:
I’m truly proud of what Lumos has achieved in twenty years. I felt compelled to set up the charity after reading the newspaper article which brought to life the horrors experienced by children separated from their families and raised in harmful institutions. Lumos has now helped to ensure thousands of children have grown up in safe and loving families with the care they need and deserve. There is more to do though, so we remain relentlessly ambitious for children and for Lumos’ next chapter.
Evanna Lynch, Lumos Ambassador and Actor said:
Without families and without love, children can’t be children. The most important thing as a child is to be with your family. And you have to do everything you can to keep that family unit in place.
Howard Taylor, Lumos CEO said:
As we mark our 20th anniversary, we are very proud of the impact we have had for some of the most vulnerable children and families around the world. Throughout the year, we will look back to celebrate what has been achieved, with gratitude for the work of Lumos teams over 20 years, and the support of our partners and donors. We will also look forward and inspire others with our ambitious future plans for greater reach and impact for children and families in the coming years.
Mihaela, Bulgarian Youth Advocate said:
Every child has a right to a family. It’s so simple. There is no way a hundred children in one house can become a family. 100 kids together is not a family! Even 20 kids is not. Where you live in a house with 100 children, wherever you are in the world, you are nobody, you exist only in documents.
About Lumos
Lumos works to realise every child’s right to a family by transforming care systems around the world. Our vision is a world in which all children grow up in safe and loving families within supported communities.
Founded in 2005 by author J.K. Rowling, Lumos partners with governments, civil society and young people with lived experience to transform care systems globally and advocate for family-based solutions that help children thrive. We ensure that families receive the support they need to stay together or reunite, and that children grow up in family-based settings such as foster or kinship care, not institutions. Despite clear evidence of the harms of institutionalisation, an estimated 5.4 million children worldwide continue to live in institutions. And a much larger number of children are at risk of institutionalisation – those living in poverty, experiencing domestic violence and abuse, and living in countries affected by conflict.
