Christian Bale Built A $22 Million Foster Care Village So Siblings Wouldn't Be Separated

While millions know him as Batman, off-screen Christian Bale has been working for years on a cause he describes as one of the most meaningful things he has ever done. The 51-year-old actor joined forces with Dr. Eric Esrailian, a UCLA professor and physician, to co-found the nonprofit Together California. Their mission is to build a special kind of "village" where siblings in foster care can live together, Realtor reported.

Christian Bale has worked on a project to help foster siblings stay together. Credit: Robin L Marshall / Getty

Set in Palmdale, California, the ambitious project has been in the works for nearly twenty years and is finally becoming a reality. Bale’s inspiration came 17 years ago, when his daughter Emmeline was just three years old. He found himself wondering what would happen to her if he and his wife were suddenly gone. That thought led him to investigate the foster care system, and what he learned shocked him. Nearly three-quarters of siblings who enter foster care in the United States end up being split apart.

"And so you imagine the trauma of that, you know? But added trauma to being taken from your parents, and then you lose your siblings, you know, that's just something that we shouldn't be doing," Bale told CBS Sunday Morning’s Tracy Smith during an interview.

Bale pointed out that his determination to help didn’t come from personal experience in the foster system. He grew up in Wales, the son of a circus performer and an activist, but said it doesn’t take personal ties to understand what needs to be done.

"I don't think you have to have any connection to foster care in your past," he explained. "It's just about a basic understanding that, as a society, how can you not take care of our children? So I don't think it requires a connection. It just requires having a heart."

To bring his idea to life, Bale teamed up with Tim McCormick, who had already been working in Chicago to design foster housing that allowed siblings to remain together.

Now McCormick is helping lead Together California’s project in Los Angeles County. It’s the county with the largest foster population in the entire nation, with more than 43,000 children in the system.

"This is what this site is about. We create a place for authentic goodness to flourish. And it certainly impacts a child, but it impacts all of us. We create a different story of us as a society," Bale said, emphasizing the broader impact of the effort.

In 2022, the group secured $1.7 million from the city of Palmdale and the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to purchase almost five acres of land. By February 2024, construction was officially underway, with AC Martin Architects in charge of designing the community. For a firm known for large-scale, high-profile projects, CEO Tom Hsieh told CBS Sunday Morning that this one carried special meaning for them.

"I think we're at a point in our society where we have to help. And for me – you know, as exciting as creating the next high rise, we need to give back to society and community. This is small but I'm tremendously proud of this project," Hsieh said proudly.

The foster village will eventually feature 12 three-bedroom townhouses. Each home will be able to house six children alongside professional foster parents. A 7,000-square-foot community center will serve as the heart of the development, providing programs, resources, and space for children to learn and grow together.

Plans also call for studio apartments that will provide temporary housing for birth parents and transitional housing for teenagers aging out of the foster care system. For Bale, who has long loved creativity, design, and architecture, the process has been deeply fulfilling.

"I love designing. I love architecture," Bale admitted. "So I adore the whole design process. And so actually seeing it really – coming to happen is just very, very exciting."

The project has been made possible by both public and private support, including $6 million from the Austrian-American Council West and donations from well-known figures like Leonardo DiCaprio.

What was once just a barren lot near McAdam Park has now turned into a busy construction site. As of August 1, the first walls had already started to rise. Together California shared a timelapse video on Instagram showing the progress.

"The walls are not all up yet, but the vision is clear: an innovative model of foster care filled with hope, connection, and the kind of love that helps children believe that dreams can come true," the organization wrote, highlighting their vision for the community.

Bale admits the process took far longer than he originally thought, but says the long wait was worth it.

"I didn't think it was going to take that long," he told the Associated Press in 2024, recalling how he once pictured it happening quickly. "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."

Despite the 17-year journey, he insists he would have taken on the project even if he had known how long it would take. For him, it remains one of the most important achievements of his life, alongside his career on screen.

"This is something that when, you know, I'm closing my eyes for the last time. I wanna look and say... think about, 'Did I do some good? Did I make any changes in the world that were useful?' And this will be one of the things that I'll be most proud of when I, you know, draw my last breath," he reflected, describing the legacy he hopes to leave behind.