Real Life Bruce Wayne Christian Bale Builds Foster Homes

Christian Bale spent years playing Bruce Wayne on screen. Now, the actor behind The Dark Knight is doing something even more important in real life. He is helping foster children in California stay with their brothers and sisters. Bale this week launched Together California, a foster care community in Palmdale, about 40 miles north of Los Angeles. The 11,000-square-foot site includes 12 furnished homes designed to keep sibling groups together after they enter foster care. The project cost $22 million and took 17 years to complete. Bale began working on child welfare issues in 2008, the same year The Dark Knight reached theaters. He said he was moved by learning that Los Angeles County foster children are often separated from their siblings after losing their parents. “Imagine the absolute pain and the trauma of losing your parents or being torn from your parents, and then losing your brothers and sisters on top of that, that’s no way to treat kids,” Bale said in a statement. Together California is a reminder that protecting children should not be a partisan issue. Too often, government systems separate families, bury problems in paperwork, and leave vulnerable kids without the supp...