Oscar-winner Christian Bale is building a village in California to keep foster siblings under same roof

It was early 2024. With a broad smile on his lips and eyebrows raised in excitement, the Oscar-winning actor, Christian Bale, stood in the desert city of Palmdale along with his wife Sibi and a group of officials, holding a shovel filled with soil. As the officials counted “One, two, three,” Bale sprang the shovel forward, flinging the mound of soil onto the patch of land. In an interview afterward, he told the Associated Press that he had been waiting for this moment for the past 16 years. For all these years, he had been on a mission to create a community of foster care homes and studio flats so children wouldn’t have to separate from their siblings. 

All of it started with the birth of his daughter, Emmeline, in 2005. “I found myself trying to imagine what it would be like if we weren’t around,” he told the outlet. “I was stunned and mad to learn that we have more foster kids here than anywhere else in the country. I was also kicking myself for not knowing that before so I thought, ‘Well, this is it. Let’s focus on this.’ My wife and I decided that we were going to do everything we could in our power to change that.”

After this heartbreaking realization about foster care homes, the “Batman” actor dedicated himself to the cause. "I didn't think it was going to take that long," he said. "I had a very naive idea about kind of getting a piece of land and then, bringing kids in and the brothers and sisters living together and sort of singing songs like the Von Trapp family in 'The Sound of Music.'" But soon enough, he realized that the project wasn’t as simple as it sounded.

The ”Empire of the Star” star then partnered with the UCLA doctor Eric Esrailian, a producer on one of his films, and founded an organization called “Together California.” According to CBS News, he also recruited Tim McCormick, an expert with over 18 years of experience creating innovative care systems for foster children. "He said we've got to do this in California. To his credit, through all sorts of challenges, COVID and everything else, he never gave up." McCormick said, per the outlet. The LA County Supervisor Kathryn Barger also joined their team.

Bale’s $22 million foster care village in Palmdale is expected to be completed by April 2025 and will include 12 homes, two studio apartments, and a 7,000-square-foot community center for siblings. Situated next to a park in Palmdale, a city 60 miles north of Los Angeles, the village will be the “first of its kind in the state,” according to The Guardian. The “American Psycho” star told The Hollywood Reporter that the village is “something absolutely new, totally transformative and something completely needed.”

“Imagine the absolute pain and the trauma of losing your parents or being torn from your parents, and then losing your brothers and sisters on top of that. That’s no way to treat kids. And so, we will be the hub for that. I hope that this village will be the first of many, and I hope that people, Californians and Angelenos, know to come join us in opening our eyes to what’s happening right under our noses. These are our children, and we must help our children,” added the “Vice” actor.