PHOENIX, AZ — Arizona’s largest group home provider faced no penalties after the death of 9-year-old Jakob Blodgett, even as state records and criminal investigators continued to examine how staff handled his diabetes care. The boy was diagnosed with brain swelling, placed on a ventilator and died in 2022 from complications of Type 1 diabetes after missing two long-acting insulin doses.
The case has since widened beyond child welfare. It now sits at the center of a political fight involving Gov. Katie Hobbs, campaign donations tied to Sunshine Residential Homes and a later state rate increase for the company. Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes said her office found no evidence of bribery, but separate inquiries by the state auditor general, Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell and the sheriff’s office are still active.
How the boy’s blood sugar crisis unfolded inside the group home
Blodgett was living in metro Phoenix in a foster home where only the house manager had training in managing his diabetes. Staff said he was sneaking candy and refusing insulin, and one employee texted a supervisor after seeing an elevated blood-glucose reading. The reply was simple: give him water.
Text messages described growing alarm. The manager warned staff, “We don’t want him to go into a diabetic coma,” but when workers asked whether the boy should receive insulin, the manager did not answer. The next day, after another high blood-sugar reading was shared, the guidance again was to give him water. By the following day, after two missed doses of the long-lasting insulin he needed, Blodgett was taken to the hospital…