A 17-year-old living at the region’s emergency children’s shelter, Kids Kottage, is dead of unknown causes, a Washoe County official confirmed today.
Washoe County’s Human Services Agency operates Kids Kottage, which “serves the region’s abused and neglected children by providing emergency housing to children unable to be placed with foster families (or) relatives.”
County officials would not provide details about what happened.
“The Washoe County Human Services Agency (HSA) is grieving the sudden loss of a 17-year-old girl who passed away at the Kids Kottage on Tuesday, June 25, 2024,” Washoe County’s Bethany Drysdale said. “The cause of death is still pending. The Washoe County Regional Medical Examiner’s Office is investigating the death but will not be able to determine the cause for several weeks while they perform additional laboratory tests. There will be no further details provided at this time.”
A Washoe County report in 2023 said there has been “enormous growth in the need for emergency care provided by Kids Kottage. Generally, the goal is to place children directly in foster homes but due to
extenuating circumstances there has always been a handful of children that are difficult to place.
“This has become a larger issue over recent years as the community has seen the closure of pediatric psychiatric units and the department has faced a shortage of in-home foster care and in-home emergency foster care beds in the community largely driven by the economic effects of COVID.”
