Colin Farrell has set up a foundation in the US to support adult children with special needs.
The Colin Farrell Foundation has launched in America to provide support for those and their families.
The foundation has been established in honour of eldest the Irish star’s son James who has a rare neurogenetic disorder – Angelman Syndrome.
The actor shared news of the foundation with The Sunday World in Ireland and People magazine in the US.
In an interview about the establishment of the foundation, Colin his experiences of being a parent of an adult child with special needs.
The Banshees of Inisherin star shares his son, who is will turn 21 this year, with his former partner Kim Bordenave.
Speaking to People about his eldest son, the 48-year-old sweetly confessed: “I’m proud of him every day, because I just think he’s magic.”
The Dublin native continued to tell the publication he had wanted for many years “to do something in the realm of providing greater opportunities for families who have a child with special needs, to receive the support that they deserve, basically the assistance in all areas of life”.
He admitted James and other young adults with special needs “earned the right to have a greater degree of individuality and autonomy on life, and a greater degree of community”.
“This is the first time I’ve spoken about it, and obviously the only reason I’m speaking is I can’t ask James if he wants to do this.”
“I mean, I can. I speak to James as if he’s 20 and has perfect fluency with the English language and age-appropriate cognitive ability.”
Colin continued: “But I can’t discern a particular answer from him as to whether he’s comfortable with all this or not, so I have to make a call based on knowing James’s spirit and what kind of young man he is and the goodness that he has in his heart.”
He said “that if James knew getting his photograph in the back garden with me, which is not my favourite thing to do, if us doing this could help families and other young adults who live with special needs, he would say, ‘Dad, what are you talking about? Why are you even asking me? It’s a no-brainer’.”
“So that’s why we’re doing it. This is all because of James – it’s all in his honour.”
He concluded: “It’s a terrifying thought that I’ll miss the last, you know, 40 years or 50 years of his life. Yeah, just ’cause I won’t be there to shepherd and protect.”
“But what would the perfect [alternative be?] You know, just a life of connection. And so, James’s last 20, 30, 40, 10 years of James’s life, he’ll be somewhere where he feels like he belongs.”
“Where he feels like he’s safe and where he can garden and watch movies and swim in the pool and go out to the beach, and just have a full and meaningful and connected life. That’d be the dream,” he added.
The website for the foundation said the organisation is “committed to transforming the lives of individuals and families living with intellectual disability through education, awareness, advocacy, and innovative programs.”
Colin is the president of the foundation and his sister Claudine Farrell is vice president.
