Christian Bale is leading a mission to build a foster care village in California that keeps orphaned siblings together under one roof.
Christian Bale may be best known for donning the cape in the Batman franchise, but his latest mission doesn’t require a costume—just compassion. The Oscar-winning actor is now championing a real-life cause close to his heart: building a foster care village designed to keep orphaned siblings together.
In the desert community of Palmdale, California, Christian Bale is helping bring Together California to life—a visionary foster care home where siblings can grow up side by side, rather than being split up after entering the system. It’s a heartbreaking reality that nearly 75 percent of foster children with siblings are placed in separate homes. For Christian Bale, that separation represents an added trauma these children shouldn’t have to endure.
“You imagine the trauma of that… You lose your parents, and then you lose your siblings. That’s just something that we shouldn’t be doing,” Christian Bale said in a candid interview on CBS Sunday Morning.
The idea was sparked 17 years ago when Christian Bale imagined what life would be like for his own daughter without parents. That empathy inspired him to research the foster care system, ultimately connecting with Tim McCormick, a longtime foster care advocate from Chicago. Christian Bale then recruited McCormick to help make his vision a reality.
Together California will consist of individual homes surrounding a central garden, where sibling groups can live together and be cared for by trained foster parents whose sole role is to support the children. “This is what this site is about,” Christian Bale said. “We create a place for authentic goodness to flourish.”
The project officially broke ground in February 2024, with Los Angeles-based architecture firm AC Martin at the helm. While not the firm’s largest undertaking, CEO Tom Hsieh calls it one of their most meaningful. “As exciting as creating the next high rise is, we need to give back to society and community,” Hsieh said. “I’m tremendously proud of this project.”
For Christian Bale, the construction site is already more than just steel and soil—it’s the embodiment of a dream. “I love designing. I love architecture. So actually seeing it really coming to happen is just very, very exciting,” he said.
Though there’s still fundraising and staffing to be done, the hope is to welcome the first children early next year. Christian Bale has earned plenty of awards in his acting career, but says this work will top them all.
“This is something that when I’m closing my eyes for the last time… this will be one of the things that I’ll be most proud of when I draw my last breath.”
