But which of us would have shown the wisdom of the third brother, if offered the pick of Death’s gifts? Wizards and Muggles alike are imbued with a lust for power; how many would resist the “Wand of Destiny”? Which human being, having lost someone they loved, could withstand the temptation of the Resurrection Stone? Even I, Albus Dumbledore, would find it easiest to refuse the Invisibility Cloak; which only goes to show that, clever as I am, I remain just as big a fool as anyone else.

ABOUT THE CHILDREN’S
HIGH LEVEL GROUP

Dear Reader,

Thank you very much for buying this unique and special book. I wanted to take this opportunity to explain just how your support will help us to make a real difference to the lives of so many vulnerable children.

More than one million children live in large residential institutions across Europe. Contrary to popular belief, most of them are not orphans, but are in care because their families are poor, disabled, or from ethnic minorities. Many of these children have disabilities and handicaps, but often remain without any health or educational interventions. In some cases they do not receive life’s basics, such as adequate food. Almost always they are without human or emotional contact and stimulation.

To change the lives of institutionalized and marginalized children, and try to make sure that no future generation suffers in this way, J. K. Rowling and I set up the Children’s High Level Group (CHLG) charity in 2005. We wanted to give these abandoned children a voice, to allow their stories to be heard.

The CHLG aims to bring an end to the use of large institutions and promote ways that allow children to live with families — their own, foster, or national adoptive parents — or in small group homes.

The campaign helps around a quarter of a million children each year. We fund a dedicated, independent, child help line that provides support and information to hundreds of thousands of children annually. We also run education activities, including the “Community Action” project in which young people from mainstream education work with special-needs children in institutions; and “Edelweiss,” which allows young people who are marginalized and institutionalized to express themselves through their creativity and talents. And in Romania, the CHLG has created a national children’s council to represent the rights of children, and which allows them to speak out about their own experiences.

But our reach goes only so far. We need funds to scale up and replicate our work, to reach out into more countries and help even more children who are in such desperate need.

CHLG has a unique character amongst nongovernmental organizations in this field, namely working with governments and state institutions, civil society (not-for-profit and volunteer organizations, faith groups, child advocacy groups, and lobbyists), professionals, and practical providers of services at a grassroots level.

CHLG aims to achieve full implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child across Europe and ultimately around the world. In only two years, we have already assisted governments to develop strategies to prevent the abandonment of babies in hospitals and to improve the care of children with disabilities and handicaps, and have developed a manual of best practice in deinstitutionalization.