Colin Farrell honors son James by launching foundation for persons with intellectual disabilities

Actor Colin Farrell was once known for his bad-boy reputation, as he partied hard and dated numerous Hollywood starlets. But today, the 48-year-old is a devoted dad who wants to make a difference in the world for his son James, who has special needs. And because of James, Farrell has now launched the Colin Farrell Foundation, which aims to improve the lives of people living with intellectual disabilities.

Some of the initiatives the foundation aims to address are housing, helping people with intellectual disabilities find meaningful jobs, increasing Medicaid funding, and decreasing the amount of wait time for Medicaid waivers, which are needed for programs like case management services, homemaker services, home health aide services, personal care services, and adult day care services. The foundation has also launched Camp Solas, which is expected to be available in 2027.

In an interview with PEOPLE, Farrell said that James, 20, deserves a world that treats him well. “I want the world to be kind to James,” he said. “I want the world to treat him with kindness and respect.” Farrell is concerned about the lack of support for people like James, as his son’s 21st birthday looms. “Once your child turns 21, they’re kind of on their own. All the safeguards that are put in place, special ed classes, that all goes away, so you’re left with a young adult who should be an integrated part of our modern society and more often than not is left behind,” Farrell said.

“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,” he said. “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. 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.”

READ: The devastating cost of wildly inaccurate prenatal screening tests

James was born in 2003, and in 2007, Farrell announced that James has Angelman syndrome, a neurogenetic disorder that includes intellectual and developmental disabilities. In a 2007 interview, Farrell spoke about his joy when James took his first steps, and how blessed he feels to have him as his son.

”With my son the only time I’m reminded that there is something different about him – that he has some deviation of what is perceived to be normal – is when I see him with other four-year-olds. Then I go ‘oh yeah’ and it comes back to me. But from day one I felt that he’s the way he’s meant to be,” Farrell said, adding, “He took his first steps about six weeks ago and it was four years in the making. All the work is his, he worked his arse off for four years. And when he took the first steps it was incredibly emotional, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.”

In Farrell’s eyes, James is “magic,” and people like him deserve the right to have a greater degree of individuality and autonomy on life, and a greater degree of community.” And he thinks James would support what he is doing with the Foundation.

“[I]f James knew getting his photograph in the back garden with me, which is not my favorite 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,'” Farrell said. “So that’s why we’re doing it. This is all because of James — it’s all in his honor.”

The DOJ put a pro-life grandmother in jail for protesting the killing of preborn children. Please take 30-seconds to TELL CONGRESS: STOP THE DOJ FROM TARGETING PRO-LIFE AMERICANS.