Christian Bale isn’t exactly known for soft edges. His career has been defined by physically grueling performances, method roles, and a reputation for being, at times, intense both on and off screen (anyone else thinking of his Huey Lewis scene in American Psycho?). But his latest project — a foster care campus in Palmdale, California — is showing fans a softer, empathetic side of the actor.
Bale has spent the past 17 years helping develop Together California, a residential campus designed to keep foster siblings together. It’s a direct response to a staggering statistic: “Approximately 75%” of siblings who enter the foster care system are separated, Bale told CBS Sunday Morning. “And so you can imagine the trauma of that, you know, being taken from your parents and then you lose your siblings, you know? That’s just something that we shouldn’t be doing.”
The campus won’t look anything like a traditional group home. It’s made up of small, individual houses clustered around a central garden, with each home staffed by trained foster parents. Their only job will be to care for the children placed there — and keep siblings under the same roof.
Bale wasn’t part of the foster care system himself. When Tracy Smith asked if his own experience — frequently moving as a child — had shaped his interest, he said, “I think it probably did, but I don’t think you have to have any connection to foster care in your past. It’s just about a basic understanding that as a society, how can we not take care of our children? So I don’t think it requires a connection, it just requires having a heart.”
The idea started nearly two decades ago, after Bale became a father. He looked at his daughter, Emmeline (who goes by Luka), and began thinking about kids who didn’t have the same kind of stability. That led him to Tim McCormack, a foster care provider in Chicago whose model emphasized sibling unity and education. McCormack’s homes had a 100% high school graduation rate. Nationally, only 48% of foster youth graduate from high school — and just 3% earn a college degree.
Construction is underway near the site where Bale filmed Ford v. Ferrari in 2019. He says he “adores the whole design process” and has brought in close friends to help fund it — including Leonardo DiCaprio. If all goes to plan, Together California will begin welcoming its first children in early 2026.
“If I’d have known it had been 17 years, I still would have done it,” Bale said. “Because this is something that when, you know, I’m closing my eyes for the last time, I want to look and say, obviously I want to be thinking about my family, [and] want to 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 draw my last breath.”
Before you go, click here to see celebrities who grew up in foster care.
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