A report released on Friday by Connecticut’s Office of the Child Advocate traced the mental health and history of Adam Lanza, the man who committed the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. It draws a narrative of years of missed opportunities, saying his mother and his educational team tried to accommodate his issues, not treat them. It claims Lanza didn’t get any mental health care after 2008, and that he grew up isolated, without the kind of socialization he should have received.
"Right now, there’s very little information available about how many children are homebound, who these children are, how long they’re being educated or not being educated," said Child Advocate Sarah Eagan.
She said she wasn’t blaming his parents, educators, or mental health professionals for Lanza’s actions. But she said, in the future, the system needs to be vigilant in making sure kids aren’t left alone.
"There’s potentially tens of thousands of other children who slip through the cracks every year," she said.
Newtown School Superintendent Joseph Erardi said next week the district will start looking into the report to decide how to use the information.
"If there’s a school leader, if there’s a district, if there’s a mental health provider or one set of parents who read this work and they can prevent such a heinous crime, then the value of the chronology put forth by the advocacy commission has extraordinary meaning," he said.
In a statement, the Connecticut branch of the American Federation of Teachers said they hope the report will be used as a source of healing and not finger-pointing.
You can hear a conversation with the only person to interview Adam Lanza's father here.
