For Christian Bale, one of his longest and most meaningful projects had nothing to do with a movie set.
There were no cameras waiting for him, no costumes to put on, and no opening-weekend box-office numbers to measure success. Instead, there was an idea that stayed with him for nearly two decades: children entering foster care should not automatically have to lose their brothers and sisters too.
In September 2026, that idea finally became a physical place.
Together California, a foster care community in Palmdale, California, officially opened after years of planning, fundraising, construction, negotiations and partnership-building. The village is designed around a simple but often difficult goal: giving sibling groups in foster care a better chance of staying together.
The project has attracted attention partly because Bale, the Academy Award-winning actor known for films including “The Dark Knight,” “The Fighter” and “American Hustle,” helped launch and champion it. But describing Together California as simply a celebrity donation would miss most of the story.
Bale did not personally write a $22 million check to build the village.
Instead, he spent years helping develop the organization, attracting donors, building partnerships and pushing the project forward alongside a team that included physician and producer Dr. Eric Esrailian, Bale’s wife Sibi Bale, nonprofit professionals, architects, government officials and community supporters. The Associated Press reported at the project's 2024 groundbreaking that Bale had already spent about 16 years pursuing the idea.
By the time the village opened in 2026, the effort had stretched across roughly 18 years.
And behind all those years was one central question:
What happens to children who lose not only the home they knew, but also the siblings who may be the most familiar people left in their lives?
An Idea That Began Around 2008
Bale's interest in foster care dates back to around 2008.
According to the Associated Press, he became increasingly aware of how many children were living in foster care in Los Angeles County and was particularly troubled by what could happen to brothers and sisters after they entered the system. Large sibling groups can be difficult to place in a single foster home because many homes simply do not have enough space or resources to accommodate several children at once.
The problem is not merely logistical.
For a child who has already been removed from a parent or familiar home, separation from a sibling can represent another profound disruption.
Federal child-welfare guidance has repeatedly emphasized the importance of sibling relationships. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services notes that federal law requires child-welfare agencies to make reasonable efforts to place siblings together when appropriate and, when they cannot live together, to maintain continuing contact between them.
Research summarized by the federal Child Welfare Information Gateway has also associated sibling placement with important benefits. Children living with siblings can experience greater continuity and emotional support, while joint sibling placement has been linked in various studies to placement stability and, in some cases, better permanency outcomes. The research also warns that separation can make adjustment more difficult because children may worry about brothers or sisters living elsewhere.
Bale eventually concluded that he wanted to help create a model specifically designed around that problem.
The idea sounded straightforward: build homes large enough for sibling groups and create a community around them.
Making it happen proved far more complicated.
From an Ambitious Dream to a Real Organization
Bale has acknowledged that his early expectations were unrealistic.
Building a foster care community meant navigating land acquisition, zoning, nonprofit administration, government partnerships, child-welfare regulations, architecture, fundraising, construction and the practical realities of caring for children with different needs.
There was no single donation or meeting that could make such a project appear overnight.
Over time, Bale joined forces with Dr. Eric Esrailian and others who helped transform the idea into an organization that became Together California.
The nonprofit's philosophy centers on keeping siblings connected while providing them with professionally supported foster homes rather than an institutional environment.
Together California describes its model as one in which children live in single-family-style homes with their brothers and sisters and a full-time, professionally trained foster parent. Foster parents receive continuing support and training, while children have access to additional resources through the wider village.
The intention is not to replace the goal of family reunification.
In fact, reunification is built into the project's broader design.
Together California says birth parents can receive support and counseling as they work toward reunifying with their children when that is possible and appropriate. The organization has also included temporary housing that can serve parents pursuing reunification as well as young people transitioning toward independent adulthood.