MESA, Ariz. — Christian Williams was 15 when he died from diabetic ketoacidosis in July 2024, after weeks of unstable blood sugar while living at a Mesa group home. An Arizona Department of Child Safety investigator later found that staff had received no training in diabetes care and that the facility’s medication records were incomplete. Christian had Type 1 diabetes and several behavioral health diagnoses. His parents, Bobbie and DeForrest Williams, had managed his diabetes at home for years without a hospitalization for diabetic distress, they said. They agreed to let the state take custody after escalating behavioral crises, believing he would receive treatment and eventually return home. Court records cited in the investigation said there had been no abuse or neglect by his parents. Christian entered Logos House, a residential treatment program run by Catalyst Community Corporation, on June 6, 2024. He needed insulin several times a day and regular blood-sugar monitoring. Records and testimony later described gaps in the home’s supplies, including a period without his continuous glucose monitor. Staff said they did not keep reliable records of whether he received insulin, and his roommate told police the home at one point ran out of it. Christian was hospitalized twice in June for dangerously high blood sugar. After the second visit, hospital staff reported that Logos House would not take him back, leaving him at the hospital until a state caseworker returned him to the facility, according to a recorded call to the state’s child-abuse hotline. On July 7, Christian became ill and vomited repeatedly. A substitute staff member working at the home said he had not met Christian before and had no experience caring for someone with high blood sugar. Staff later told police they asked Christian to check his glucose and take insulin, but said he refused. His roommate gave investigators a different account, saying Christian spent hours on the floor asking for help and that staff would not let him call 911. A staff member called emergency services that evening. Police body-camera footage recorded her describing Christian as pretending to be dead. Paramedics found him unresponsive and began CPR. His parents were not initially told he had been taken to intensive care. Christian suffered a severe brain injury and was pronounced dead on July 10. His cause of death was diabetic ketoacidosis, according to the account of his death in records and reporting on the case. The state investigator found that no direct-care worker interviewed could describe signs of dangerously low blood sugar or identify safe blood-sugar ranges. The investigator also found missing medication logs and no records showing when Christian received insulin or what his glucose readings were. Catalyst’s attorney, David Potts, declined to comment. The Department of Child Safety also declined to comment, citing pending litigation. The month after Christian died, Catalyst received state and outside-agency accreditation to operate for another three years. Christian’s case was not the first reported diabetes-related death of an Arizona child in a group home. Nine-year-old Jakob Blodgett died in 2022 after spending less than two weeks in foster care. His parents said he could not manage insulin on his own; group-home employees said in depositions they had not been trained to care for Type 1 diabetes. Phoenix attorney Robert Pastor represents both families in separate lawsuits against the state and health care providers. The cases come amid wider concerns about how foster care serves children with disabilities. Federal foster-care records do not provide a reliable count: in a 2025 analysis of 505,591 children, disability status was recorded for only 60%. Researchers’ estimates of the share of foster youth with disabilities range from 25% to 80%, depending on definitions and whether mental health needs are included. The same analysis found that children identified as disabled stayed in foster care about 50% longer than children without disabilities, moved through an average of 4.6 placements compared with 2.7, and were more likely to live in institutions or group settings. About 10% of disabled children were in those settings, compared with 4% of children without disabilities. Researchers have also found elevated death rates among foster youth with disabilities. For the Williams family, the figures are inseparable from the loss of their son. They say Christian’s diabetes had been controlled while he lived at home and that they expected the state to find a facility capable of meeting his medical and behavioral needs. His organs were later donated to four women, his parents said.