r/nextfuckinglevel • u/ExactlySorta • 13h ago
Christian Bale spent roughly 17 years fighting to make this happen. This week, his foster-care village opened in Palmdale, California: 12 homes built specifically to help keep siblings together when they enter foster care
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u/TwoNowFive 13h ago
Real life Bruce Wayne.Ā
Thank you Mr. Bale for being an amazing person and using your wealth and influence to make someone's life better.Ā
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u/p3p1n0_grnde 12h ago
The hero we need
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u/Remus88Romulus 9h ago
He truly is legendary. Top 5 best actors ever. Thanks.
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u/Salt-Pomegranate1273 13h ago
I love this and think it's great he is doing this., I wish more foster parents would be willing to take in families. We took in a family of four almost 2 years ago and are going to adopt them next year. It was a big job with all of their traumas but the idea of being in a situation where you are in (what you think is) a safe situation and then taken out and losing your siblings is extremely hard to imagine.
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u/chosonhawk 13h ago
thanks for doing this. i adopted my foster child and navigating the foster system is one of the most heartbreaking / rewarding things ive ever done.
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u/Salt-Pomegranate1273 13h ago
That's amazing. These kids deserve it. I love to see their true personalities come out the more they have found comfort. The most heartbreaking thing is knowing what their parents could be but aren't and/or having them go back
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u/ravioli333 12h ago
I think one of the big issues is that many people that don't already have large families don't have a big enough living space to accommodate multiple kids each with their own beds and separated by gender. Also, at times the children need to be separated, for example, due to sexual abuse between them, or the need for different types of guardians or environments (yet they're still bonded and want to spend time together).
So this village idea that he's developed really addresses multiple issues that tend to break up sibling groups.
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u/Laleaky 8h ago edited 8h ago
I think many potential foster families simply do not have the space to take in a family group. Facilities such as this are a huge help.
I always planned to be a foster parent as I got older (my children are adopted and young adults now) but my financial situation doesnāt allow for a larger home.
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u/greatersaphenous 4h ago
I also wanted to thank you for this act. As a nurse who works in pediatric surgery, I see the worst neglect and abuse you could ever imagine and these traumatized and hurt children need good families like yours to have a chance at life. Itās refreshing to hear a beautiful story about taking in 4 siblings, thatās a tall order.
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u/EatinSumGrapes 13h ago edited 9h ago
There is seemingly insurmountable things that cannot be changed, but just even if you can't do great things, you can do small things in a great way
Damn that hits hard
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u/solonit 9h ago
You canāt save the world, but for everyone you helped, their world is saved.
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u/Uferstein 7h ago
I used to develop apps for customers at a small agency. Apps with little users. I questioned what I was doing with my life. Every day I got myself some breakfast at the bakery down stairs and questioned my purpose. That bakery had the most delicious food. I was looking forward to my breakfast every day. It helped me get up and out of bed every day. One day I realized how much that bakery was doing for me and for my neighborhood. How much it meant to me. And how we can't always tell the impact we have on people. I doubt the bakery knew.
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u/Maserati-Scotty 13h ago
Crazy how you have to fight to do something good for other people
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u/Hi_Trans_Im_Dad 12h ago
It's not like many people were trying to stop him.
What he had to do was fight through the red tape of creating safe homes for multiple underage siblings, complete with every regulation California puts on all residences, but so very much more than usual in this case.
Sure, there were some NIMBY cunts out there, but calling in experts to make sure they were done up to code and beyond for some very vulnerable children, plus zoning, plus planning, etc...
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u/Wonderful-Ad440 12h ago
As a Native American this hits hard in the paint. It took my dad years to get me and my brother back. The entire experience in all the homes we were tossed around to were horrible. They separated us and we are fucking twins. We both would only sleep in dad's bed for months his once he got us back instead of our room because we were scared someone we didn't know would wake us up in our beds and take us away again. Both my brother and I were very hostile to anyone who bothered one or the other for years because we worried somehow we'd get seperated. We spent over 2 years with no contact and 3 years before we got to be able to come home but dad never moved us back to the reservation. Being so seperated from your people and culture is bad enough. Being seperated from your family and the only people who look like you and speak your language is compounding. Not knowing if you'll ever be "home" again devestates. I often wonder how my life could've been better without that trauma those homes and those horrible foster parents inflicted and the fear that followed even after reuniting.
Considering Bruce opens an orphanage to do the same thing this is the most Batman shit I've ever seen!
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u/MeadowmuffinReborn 10h ago
Sorry you and your family went through that.
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u/Wonderful-Ad440 9h ago edited 8h ago
We got back together. My brother and I were the first to go to college and now we are buying land for my dad to start a campground where, during the summer, he can hold a camp where he takes troubled teens and teaches them how to live off the land, take care of horses, cook, grow food, and the focus of being part of a village as part of their sentencing so they don't spend all their time in Juvi.
I did tell him he isn't allowed to abandon them in the woods as a right of passage like he did us though.
We managed to turn something dark and terrible into a way to keep our culture alive, even teaching them our language, into something that actually can help the kids that had lives like us.
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u/MeadowmuffinReborn 9h ago
That's fantastic my friend, I'm happy things ultimately worked out.
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u/Wonderful-Ad440 9h ago
My AtƩ (dad) always told us "no man is a man that doesn't leave the world better than he found it." We just want to keep that spirit alive. We may be the one's doing it but he deserves all the credit for raising my brother and I to be that way. It's our retirement gift for him when he is done working next year. That way he can raise more boys to become good men which has always been his proudest accomplishments even with our friends who he constantly took in because of their troubled lives and home situations.
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u/BrokilonDryad 5h ago
Thatās amazing, I wish you all the best of luck. My mental health took a huge turn for the better once I (a white chick) was accepted into an Indigenous-based bushcraft community. It gave me strength, courage to challenge myself to hard physical tasks, new interests to pursue like plant ID and making a bow right from the newly cut down tree to burnishing it with antler, and a great sense of peace.
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u/LilMeatBigYeet 13h ago
Im in the middle of watching american psycho and holy fucking shit. I can't look at him the same way anymore
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u/bushmillsNbitches 7h ago
its like a ~100min pretty good movie and you had to take a break or even worse browse reddit while watching?
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u/PRRZ70 13h ago
I love that he dedicated his money towards this.
BTW, every time I hear his natural accent it throws me for a second :D
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u/-TropicalFuckStorm- 9h ago
All the best actors are British.
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u/princess_princeless 5h ago
Cus the brits actually like an actor for their skills not their looks.
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u/Rude-Piglet-5212 13h ago
The general public has no idea what foster kids go through and most of them end up homeless they turn 18. Pro lifers, what are you doing o help these kids? If the answer is nothing them you are a hypocrite
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u/ScatLabs 13h ago
Don't want to take away the good but...
Fighting for 17 years to open 12 homes!?!
Here's a guy with resources and money. There is no reason it should take that long to build this, unless he did everything himself from scratch, including learn all the trades necessary to build the structure.
Just goes to show that bureaucracy exists only to drain you of resources and hold you hostage at every point that it can.
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u/Barbarella_ella 13h ago
It's less about the bureaucracy and more about the neighborhoods that refuse to allow residential options like this to be sited in their midst. The loss of group homes is due to this toxic NIMBY attitude.
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u/migruen 9h ago edited 8h ago
The loss of group homes is due to the actions of monsters like Hermann Gmeiner who used his children's village and his reputation as a hero for saving children to abuse some of them. As did many other aduldts in these villages despite all oversight.
With the recent new reports of abuse and reparation payments to victims still ongoing -
I wonder why they chose their logo and their name so similar to the logo and name of SOS Children's Village.8
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u/New2NewJ 11h ago edited 9h ago
Fighting for 17 years to open 12 homes!?!
Yeah, same ... very confused by that.
Edit: He can just buy a 20-acre property someplace and do whatever the fuck he wants there. He doesn't need to think about HOAs and NIMBYs and all that shit.
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u/TheCreedsAssassin 9h ago
bureaucracy, HOAs and neighbors with people who vote against a project like this being opened because they think "it'll tank property values"...or they hate minorities and impoverished people. NIMBYism is still very prevalent
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u/GaryTheThird- 13h ago
The Batman story would have a cool new take if Bruce Wayne had a sibling or two
Also this is absolutely awesome for him to have done
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u/Red_Franzia 13h ago
This is just beautiful, people like him, Dolly I just wish we had more šš
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u/NaiveShower5821 11h ago
āEven if you canāt do great things, you can do small things in a great wayā is the mindset I want to adopt
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u/SeattleHasDied 13h ago
I've always been curious why a British guy would do something like this in Palmdale,of all places...
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u/ConstantSignal 12h ago
Los Angeles has been his home since the 1990s; he has spent essentially his entire adult life there, raised his family there, and has described LA as home partly because his wife is from there.
He has said that he specifically looked for problems in his local area that he felt he could help to solve.
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u/AwkwardFriendship317 7h ago
Well Palmdale is not his area. Grew up in that place and I can 100 percent say that ain't no famous person proud to be/live in pompton I mean the antelope valley.
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u/Helldiver_of_Mars 13h ago
Attack the inequality problem and solve the issues before they begin.
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u/Aggressive-Client770 12h ago
A hero can be anyone. Even a man doing something as simple and reassuring as putting a coat around a young boy's shoulders to let him know that the world hadn't ended.
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u/AngryNeko 12h ago
Props to Bale for using his fame and wealth to make a better world. Really inspiring. More of Hollywood should take up causes like this. Much respect.
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u/Defiant_Dot_515 13h ago
I canāt seem to find any info on this with more detail.
This is obviously incredibly generous and kind, but Iāve been wondering why did it take 17 years to build just 12 homes? How many people can those 12 homes house? Couldnāt he have built them as massive apartment complexes to house hundreds instead?
Does anyone have any info on it?
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u/massinvader 12h ago edited 6h ago
Couldnāt he have built them as massive apartment complexes to house hundreds instead?
apartment complexes are not ideal living spaces in a perfect world. they're a solution to a problem and a lot of people know nothing better and nothing wrong with that...but a home with a backyard in a neighbourhood is a way better experience. I think this project is less about clinical and industrialized quantity and more about quality of living for these kids. just saying.
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u/Own_Laugh_5080 9h ago
I met Christian Bale and his wife several years ago. They graciously attended our Native American film festival in LA. He spent the evening with us as we honored both him and other native actors and filmmakers. We donāt have the same glamour as Canne or Sundance, but we were very proud to have him attend and give a speech as well. He spoke only about our common cause and nothing about himself.
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u/SquireSquilliam 8h ago
My siblings and I went through the California foster system. We were split up immediately. I didn't see my sister for years, I only visited one of my brothers for a few hours every couple of months. It's brutal. Hopefully this works out, I'm glad to see someone try something.
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u/SchwiftyBabyLegs 13h ago
Finally seeing an actor use their money for good like this, feels amazing to see tbh. Bro is the hero we deserve
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u/Timmerdogg 13h ago
It's good that someone cares enough to actually do something. Far too many are falling through the cracks because they have shitty parents
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u/UnrequitedFollower 12h ago
I wonder what the quality will be like. As a foster parents, Iāve always found these large facilities to be pretty roughā¦ mostly because they donāt want to pay for high quality staff.
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u/Pretty_Designer716 12h ago
Its a compound for foster kids? Professional staff watching kids? How does this work?
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u/MangledPumpkin 12h ago
17 years is crazy. It's impressive by itself but the mountain of work to make it happen blows my mind.
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u/drewcoolie 12h ago
very glad for this, I love seeing when people from developed nations spend their wealth and time on creating opportunities for those in third world countries.
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u/A_Warrior_Princess 11h ago
This is amazing. God this makes him hot on another fucking level too. What a man.
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u/gonejahman 11h ago
To think Christian Bale, Batman, has anything to do with the dumpy little high desert town of Palmdale is wild to think about. I live nearby. Can we now claim that Christian Bale built some homes here? Does that raise the value here? Can we put it on the sign when you come into the city: Christian Bale fucks with Palmdale. That would be great, thanks.
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u/zardoz73 10h ago
Props to Christian Bale who is a true mensch. And shame on the government--or rather those who control the purse strings--that does not already fund projects like this. Keeping siblings together in the foster care system should be a goddamn no brainer.
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u/Totally_Random0000 10h ago
I have a new level of respect for this man.
This is an extremely selfless thing to do. I would never have guessed this man was that type of person. Respect to Christian bale man šš
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u/momomorium 9h ago
The number of videos I've seen of adults being reunited with siblings they haven't seen in 20+ years because they got separated in the system breaks my heart. I'm so happy for those individuals, but it's a reminder of how many never get the chance to see their family again. This is so important and I'm so grateful it exists.
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u/Pussy4LunchDick4Dins 9h ago
I was homeless as a teenager and there was a time when my sister was the only person I had. I canāt imagine how much riskier things would have been if we didnāt have eachother.
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u/Jugsie23 8h ago
As someone who took in two siblings and is in the process of possibly welcoming the latest into our family, this is amazing to hear. What an incredible initiative. Made me all weepy.
Itās been so hard, but I look at ours playing together and feel so proud we could keep them together. For their bond, for their life story, for each other.
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u/rustyseapants 8h ago
We can't depend on the charity of celebrities to do the functions of government. If you want change taxation and regulations are the only ways to go.
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u/fastforwardfunction 8h ago
This facility looks absolutely amazing. Can someone explain more how it works? They look like family homes all built on one site. Would the foster children have employees ālivingā in the homes with them? Like a more structured family āorphanageā? Or do foster parents move here?
Usually when I think of foster parents, I think of the parents having their own home and the children staying at the parents unique home. This setup looks interesting!
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u/Gildor12 6h ago
Why arenāt billionaires doing this? They are bastards especially Elon Musk who uses his money to support far right politicians
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u/Icy_Performer_6794 6h ago
Good man, there. Really, the kids are better off in this type of residence.
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u/Satanic-nic 4h ago
It comes to something when society has to rely on charities/ nonprofit organisations to do the job that the government is supposed to do. Isn't that why people pay taxes? To make society better for everyone?
I wish more super rich people would follow the example of Bale and his partner and stop being selfish, greedy assholes.
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u/WorkinName 4h ago
Nice. Its awesome to see good things happen. Sucks that even an individual as wealthy and influential as Bale still has to spend almost two decades to make it happen. But its awesome to see it happen nonetheless.
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u/Touchname 4h ago
Don't think I've actually heard him speak outside of movies before. That was interesting, i expected a different accent.
That said, fuck yeah! Need more people like this
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u/clickmagnet 4h ago
Christ, I would have presumed the foster system keeps siblings together already. Great that Bale is doing this but shitty that it needs doing.
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u/ChocolateKey8064 3h ago
So he's damn near a billionaire and it took him 17 years to get 12 houses opened 12 that's it out of all of the Foster families and Foster siblings in the Foster program in America fucking 12 and you're celebrating him like he's a hero no this shouldn't even be on the news they should have never made a video of this he should not celebrate this shit one bit open them in silence and work hard to open more because they definitely need them
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u/EverythingBOffensive 3h ago
The fact that a wealthy person has to fight 17 years for this to happen, just shows how backwards our country is. He likely shopped other areas before palmdale and they denied him.
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u/Vulvas_n_Velveeta 3h ago
This is exactly why I despise most rich people, especially rich celebrities who have all the money, resources, and exposure to make extraordinary things happen, but they choose to spend waste their money buying designer clothes for their baby, or their 50th pair of designer shoes, or their 3rd vacation home.
I'm poor as a mother fker. Like even right now, today, I need toilet paper and milk but don't have the money for it. I spent the last little bit of money i had yesterday to buy cat food to feed the small army of cats at my house. All were born homeless outside. Some were brought inside the house (for various reasons, never intended to keep any,) who are now my family. The rest are outside, who are my friends. I would do anything for these cats. I'm the only person on earth that they have. I dream of winning the lottery, not for all the cool stuff I'd want to buy, but for all the homeless cats out there I'd be able to TNR. I've spent entire tax returns TNRing cats around my house. The amount of good I could do if I were rich. I'd dedicate my whole life to fixing as many cats as possible. That's all just a pipedream though. Eh, maybe I'll buy i lottery ticket when I go out today. š¤·āāļø
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u/jurielw 13h ago
My algorithm finally sending some positive vibes!