– credit, Together California
The personal passion project of Hollywood A-lister Christian Bale has finally come to fruition, as the Welsh actor cut the ribbon on a children’s foster care village in Palmdale, California.
Called Together California, the facility and the organization which will run it are focused on one key mission Mr. Bale says the state foster system falls short on: keeping siblings together.
Photo by Victor R. Vega Jr.
“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,” Bale told the Hollywood Reporter 2 years ago.
“It’s our job to turn their heartbreak and their pain into love and hope and a sense of future,” Bale said just recently at the opening of Together California’s foster village.
The facility consists of 12 fully-furnished housing units across 11,000 square foot on a 4.67-acre property purchased in 2022. Though the Dark Night star played a big role in the project, he wasn’t the only one to help it over the hurdles it faced. ABC wrote that the Austrian American Council West alone raised over $9 million to see it succeed, while known philanthropist and Oscar winner Leonardo di Caprio donated to it as well.
Bale and his wife Sibi became aware of the challenges facing children in the California foster system, the largest of its kind in the country, after the birth of their first daughter. The thought of what would happen to her if they suddenly passed peaked their curiosity into learning about foster care in the state.
They learned that most siblings entering the system will be separated and grow up apart from each other, a fate Mr. Bale felt he’d like to see avoided for as many children as possible.
FOSTER HEROES:
Its arrival in Palm Dale was also down to the enthusiasm of Kathryn Barger, the Supervisor for Los Angeles County’s 5th District.
“She embraced this project. She said we have to do this in the Antelope Valley. She connected us with Palmdale, and here we are today,” one of Together California’s co-founders, UCLA Professor Eric Esrailian, told ABC.
“With LA County having more kids in foster care than anywhere else in America, it’s time we stand together and take a holistic, loving, and long-term approach to take better care of our children,” Bale said.
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