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AAP
AAP
Health
Tim Dornin

SA 'neglect' death review to go public

The findings from a high-level review into agency involvement with the family of a six-year-old Adelaide girl, who died from alleged neglect, will be made public, the state government has pledged.

The promise came as detectives converged on the family's Munno Para house on Wednesday in a parallel police investigation into the girl's death.

Charlie was taken unresponsive from the home early on Friday and died in hospital.

Five other children were also removed from the home and placed in care amid varying levels of concern for their wellbeing.

While four agencies - child protection, housing, human services and education - were all confirmed as having interactions with the family, Acting Premier Susan Close said it would be unhelpful for her to reveal details at this stage.

She said all the information would be known in due course.

"We have an investigation we've set up ... saying basically how did this happen, who was looking, what did they see and what did they do," Dr Close told ABC radio.

"All of that will be made public, subject to any requirements of confidentiality for individuals and we will all know so we can make decisions about what needs to improve.

"There has been multiple eyes on this family and I am frustrated and concerned given then, how is it that this child has died."

Dr Close said it was clear that no order had previously been sought to remove Charlie or any of the other children from the home but support had been offered to the family.

Asked about the girl's death on Wednesday, Attorney-General Kyam Maher said he would also not go into any specific details that could compromise the police inquiries.

But he said he understood the public's desire for answers.

Mr Maher said the government would undoubtedly consider any legislative changes that might be recommended following the review of the case.

He said that would include the possible establishment of an independent body that people could contact if they were dissatisfied with the actions of child protection services.

As police removed papers and other material from the family home on Wednesday, the focus of their investigation was expected to be on whether charges should be laid.

They have declared Charlie's death a major crime and are treating it as a case of criminal neglect, an offence that carries a maximum jail term of life.

Deputy Police Commissioner Linda Williams said interim post-mortem results raised concerns about the state of the girl's health and wellbeing at the time of her death.

"We want to understand what happened to Charlie and how she ended up in the circumstances that she did," Ms Williams said.

"The death of any person is tragic, but the death of a young child, a six-year-old girl, obviously causes concern for everybody to want to know how this occurred."

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