Tennyson Center

“ They did a lot to help me, I made lots of friends, I learned how to do stuff I never knew how to do before... ” — A young Daniel in the news report, describing his time at the Center

The Center in 2012

The Tennyson Center for Children, commonly referred to as just the Tennyson Center, is a healthcare facility in Denver, Colorado that specializes in caring for neglected, abused, and traumatized children. The Tennyson Center used to temporarily house and educate abused children, but after a series of events, such as children running away from their facilities, overdoses, and even a case where a child died while unsupervised, it has closed its residential program.

During his childhood, Daniel lived at the facility for 1 1/2 years, and attended their programs for 3 after suffering alleged neglect by his mother (and to a lesser extent, his father). He would stop living at Tennyson after his grandma got word of his situation, who moved from California to Denver in order to become his guardian.

Flexburger has stated that, according to Daniel, the Tennyson Center was "really good for him" and that he liked it a lot. Daniel has said that he took "basic" classes there such as "third grade math, fourth grade science, like, the normal...", which is called into question given that he was a teenager during the time he attended, and these are not the classes someone of that age should be taking.

Background

Daniel was placed into the Tennyson Center following him being removed from his mother's custody by social services. While the specifics of the situation are unknown, it was stated in a later news report that Daniel was neglected by his mother. This is most likely, as Elisabeth was wheelchair-bound and unable to take care of Daniel properly, difficulty only added due to his severe mental issues and the departure of his father.

After being removed from his mother's care, Daniel claimed to have hopped between 10-15 foster homes before being placed into the Tennyson Centers residential program, to which he stayed for 1 1/2 years, before being placed into the custody of his grandmother.

KWGN News Report

In December 2012, local news channel KWGN reported on the Tennyson Center, featuring a 14-year-old Daniel Larson and his grandmother Nancy Shimer sharing their experience at the center. This video is the first known instance of Daniel mentioning his passion for acting, specifically mentioning that he wanted to chase storms on the news.

In a 2023 AMA, Flexburger said that he found the Tennyson Center video after "lots and lots of digging", following Daniel revealing to him that he was on the news as a child. However, it was not found (or "leaked") by the community for a while.

As the Tennyson Center and accompanying news video were one of the few looks into young Daniel's life, they have become the subject of many memorable fan videos and edits, mostly on TikTok. These mostly revolve around how bad Daniel's life has become, in contrast to his youthful optimism displayed in the video. Some "fans" have also stated that the American mental health system had failed Daniel and, had he received proper treatment, could have had a much better life.

Closure

In 2021, the Tennyson Center closed its residential program, the exact same program Daniel was in before going into his grandmothers care, after an extreme amount of controversy following incidents such as multiple drug overdoses, runaways, sexual misconduct scandals, and the death of one of their patients. This calls into question, as well as extreme concern, as to what happened to Daniel during his time attending the Tennyson Center. Even more, knowing that Daniel may have been abused in the background, makes the following news report about the Tennyson Center extremely ominous and uncomfortable.

See Also

Before Era
The Players:	The Events:	The Places:
Elisabeth Shimer Travis Larson Nancy Shimer Katie Elise	Birth of Daniel Mental health issues KWGN Tennyson Center News Report November 6th Arrest	Tennyson Center Sobesky Academy