A woman who allegedly stabbed her two young sons has "severe" mental illness and had repeated interactions with authorities, according to her sister.
WARNING: This story contains content that some readers may find upsetting.
Megan Somerville, of Modbury Heights, appeared in court from her hospital bed on Tuesday afternoon, charged with two counts of attempted murder over the alleged stabbing of her two children on a motorway at Wingfield.
The court heard her mental health would be a factor in the case, which was adjourned until December.
Ms Somerville's sister Jessica responded to the charges in a social media post.
"Megan has had severe mental illness … for the past eight years and despite the efforts of family and friends, she has continued to deteriorate with a number of incidents over the years," she said.
The sister said despite repeated interactions with state authorities, "the system has failed to appropriately intervene" in the family's case.
"Our family is doing everything we can to support [the children] as they navigate this terrible trauma," she said.
SA Premier Peter Malinauskas confirmed Ms Somerville's family had interactions with government agencies, including the Department for Child Protection, but he was "not at liberty to disclose" details of those interactions.
"I think we've got to be a little bit careful about making assumptions about departmental failures when we're talking about a mother stabbing their children," he said.
"I'm concerned about looking at these cases and contextualising it in such a way that suggests that government isn't intervening in the lives of vulnerable families when at the moment on average two children a day are being taken away from families.
"Where government can reasonably intervene early, then there should be a predisposition to do so where it is safe to do so."
Child Protection Minister Katrine Hildyard said she first became aware of the case on Tuesday morning, but government agencies had been involved with the family in the past.
"Multiple agencies, as I understand it, had been involved with that family at different points in time," she told ABC Radio Adelaide.
Former police commissioner Mal Hyde has been conducting a review into interactions government agencies had with two other unrelated families after the deaths of a six-year-old girl in July and a seven-year-old boy in February.
Ms Hildyard said that review was "well underway" and she would look at any recommendations made as a result.
"I am so viscerally determined to act and make change," she said.
Separate case of criminal neglect reported
In another separate case, police revealed yesterday they had charged two people over the criminal neglect of a two-year-old boy.
The boy was taken to hospital last Monday, after first being brought to a medical centre in Blair Athol, in Adelaide's northern suburbs, with serious injuries.
It is unclear whether the boy or his family were known to any government agencies, but the Premier said this family "may well be on the radar" of Department for Child Protection.
Ms Hildyard said the number of children being reported to child protection authorities had increased since the Child Protection Systems Royal Commission.
"At the time of the Nyland Royal Commission around one in four children in South Australia were being notified to the department," she said.
"That number is now, shockingly, one in three."
Ms Hildyard said she believed issues facing families known to the Department for Child Protection had "intensified".
"Children and families who are notified to child protection are generally dealing with complex, deeply complex, interconnected issues — poverty, intergenerational trauma, domestic violence, mental ill health," she said.
SA Victims' Rights Commissioner Bronwyn Killmier said greater media coverage had drawn more attention to these types of cases.
"I think, from my experience, cases like this have been happening in South Australia, but it seems to be more in the public eye now," she told ABC Radio Adelaide.
Ms Killmier supported previous calls from government agencies for the public to report any concerns.
"Everybody has to have a role in child protection, so if you think something's happening you need to report it," she said.
Police commissioner praises courageous bystander
Police Commissioner Grant Stevens said a bystander who intervened in the alleged stabbing of two boys on Monday night "probably saved the lives of those children".
"Incredibly brave thing that that person did and I certainly take my hat off to him," he told radio station FiveAA.
"It was a good thing he was there, or he had happened to observe what was going on, and made the decision to step in.
"We always caution people about their own safety when they intervene in a situation, but this is one of those examples where the outcome might have been far more tragic had this person not done what he did."
