PHOENIX — The family of a 9-year-old boy who died in the custody of the Arizona Department of Child Safety has filed a wrongful death suit against DCS and the group home where he was placed.
Jakob Blodgett was a type one diabetic, and he died 18 days after being placed in DCS custody.
Medical records obtained by the ABC15 Investigators show the state struggled to manage Jakob’s diabetes from the beginning, and the group home where Arizona’s Department of Child Safety was placed Jakob allowed him to refuse the insulin, doctors say he needed to live.
Video in the player above contains previous coverage of Blodgett's death and ABC15 Investigator reporting into deaths of children in DCS custody.
Blodgett died due to complications of diabetes a day after Christmas in 2022, according to the autopsy.
The recently filed lawsuit details more accusations of failures by DCS, specifically in the agency’s decision to place Jakob in a group home instead of with a relative.
The lawsuit points to a 2017 internal DCS memo from then director Greg McKay which states before considering a group home setting, “… the DCS specialist will make reasonable efforts to identify a grandparent, member of the child’s extended family, or person who has significant relationship with the child who can provide care and meet the child’s needs.”
The suit claims those efforts didn’t happen and Jakob’s grandmother said she was never contacted by the agency about taking temporary custody of her grandson.
“The failure to put children in adequate or appropriate placements is a chronic problem,” said Robert Pastor, an attorney representing Jakob’s father.
Pastor filed a notice of claim against DCS and the group home in August.
The 48-page legal claim detailed failures by DCS to protect Jakob and make sure he had his life-saving medication.
“I don’t understand how they could be so negligent, so cavalier with a little boy’s life,” said Jakob’s grandmother Cheryl Doenges.
DCS took custody of Jakob on December 9, 2022, after records show Show Low police arrested his dad, Richard Blodgett, in a drug case.
A day after going into DCS custody, medical records show the state took Jakob to the hospital, and a caseworker told medical staff they were “concerned that they are not equipped to manage his blood sugars without instructions as well as sufficient supplies.”
On December 15, records show Jakob was discharged to a group home run by Sunshine Residential Homes after two administrators from the group home went to a two-day diabetes training at the hospital.
Just days after Jakob’s placement on December 19, records show the manager at the group home reported to DCS that “Jakob refused to take his insulin.”
The incident report states Phoenix Children’s was contacted for help, but it’s unclear what happened. By midnight the next day, Jakob was rushed to the hospital, this time by ambulance. It was the third time in 18 days he needed emergency care. Jakob died at the hospital five days later.
The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office has an open investigation into Jakob’s death. According to the incident report, when asked why Jakob was allowed to refuse his medication, the operations manager at the group home told detectives it was their policy “not to force medicate any of the children under their care.”
The wrongful death lawsuit alleges the State of Arizona and Sunshine Residential Homes, “did not have the necessary training, education, knowledge, experience and or ability to provide Jakob Blodgett with necessary supervision and or medical care, exposing Jakob Blodgett to an unreasonable risk of harm.”
An Arizona senate leader has called for accountability and answers following ABC15’s Investigation into Jakob’s death.
The ABC15 Investigators have asked repeatedly to interview the CEO of DCS, David Lujan, and for any information it could share about what the agency is doing to prevent another tragedy like what happened to Jakob. DCS again declined the request for an interview, and a spokesman said they do not comment on pending litigation.
Sunshine Residential Homes previously told ABC15 it had no comment on Jakob’s death and has not yet responded to new requests for comment about the wrongful death lawsuit.
