Christian Bale Opens Foster Care Facility in Palmdale to Keep Siblings Together

Actor Christian Bale joined a group of children in cutting the ribbon on a new foster care facility in Palmdale, California, capping an effort he and his wife Sibi have supported for nearly two decades.

The project, Together California, is designed to keep siblings together as they enter the foster care system. Children will live on site under the care of professionally trained foster parents, while birth parents receive support and counselling with the aim of eventual reunification.

Bale and his wife sit on the board of the organisation and have worked with it for 18 years. The facility was made possible through partnerships with Ashley Furniture, the Austrian-American Council West and the City of Palmdale. The Mayor of Palmdale presented Bale and board members with the key to the city at the event.

Speaking about what drew him to the cause, Bale said learning how many children in Los Angeles are in foster care had a profound effect on him. He recalled looking at his own children and imagining them without anyone, and described his shock at discovering that Los Angeles has more foster children than anywhere else in the United States. He said he felt shame at not having known, and that the scale of the problem appeared to be widely unrecognised despite the resources available in the region.

Bale said the goal is for the model to become self-sustaining and eventually unnecessary. He described the facility as a "mothership" that supports children from birth through to aging out of the system, preparing them so they do not end up incarcerated or homeless, with a stated aim of a 100 per cent high school graduation rate. He said he hopes the project proves the concept so that it might become the norm across America.

He also stressed the importance of broad public involvement, saying the effort cannot become a passing Hollywood trend. Rather than relying on a small circle of donors, he said, the project needs grassroots participation and sustained support from ordinary people, however small their contribution.

Together California is expected to welcome its first residents before the end of the year.