The Department of the Premier and Cabinet review will run parallel to a SA Police investigation into the suspected case of criminal neglect involving Charlie and five other siblings who were living at the same Munno Para property.

Both investigations were launched following the death of Charlie, who was found unresponsive in her home in the early hours of Friday, July 15. She was taken by ambulance to the Lyell McEwin Hospital but died shortly after.

Close said yesterday that four government agencies – Child Protection, Education, Human Services and Housing – were “actively involved” with Charlie’s family for a period of at least two years – prompting the state government’s review.

She told ABC Radio Adelaide this morning that the review would consider whether a decision to remove family support services from the control of the Department for Child Protection created “additional complexity” for authorities.

“There is the additional complexity at the moment that we’ve inherited from the previous government – a decision to put the family services that work with the family into a different department, not child protection,” she said.

“One of the questions I have of this investigation that will be undertaken by (the Department of) Premier and Cabinet is, has that changed the way in which there were interactions between the people who decide to remove a child and the people who are going in and work with the family?

“Has that caused any additional complexity?”

The Department of Human Services is currently responsible for delivering early intervention services that support families who are at risk of having their children removed by child protection authorities.

Meanwhile, the Department for Child Protection is responsible for protecting children from abuse and harm.

Shifting early intervention programs from the Department for Child Protection to Human Services was a flow-on from recommendations made by Margaret Nyland in her 2016 Child Protection Royal Commission.

The decision followed a consultation with people with lived experience.

Close said she was “frustrated and concerned” that the government had “multiple eyes” on Charlie’s family, but she refused to say how many notifications were on the family’s file, citing the ongoing police investigation.

“You can probably imagine how I felt and everyone else felt when they heard about the death of this child and understood that there had been multiple agencies interacting with this family for some time,” she said.

“If I start telling you the bits and pieces that I’ve heard nothing good will come of it.

“It is simply unhelpful for me to speculate… but I am in no way hiding there were multiple interactions with this family from people from different agencies.”

Former South Australian Commissioner for Victims’ Rights Michael O’Connell told InDaily he was “not convinced that the government is to blame” for Charlie’s death, saying he believed there was a “shared responsibility” for people to look out for children.

He said the government should be doing more to support people when they want to flag suspected child abuse or neglect, following reports neighbours close to Charlie’s family tried raising concerns but no action was taken.

“Neighbourhood and communities have some responsibility as well and we’ve invested in trying to raise people’s awareness of abuse in family settings and we’ve been encouraging people to at the very least go to a trouble of making a report,” he said.

“But, if you keep making those reports and there is no positive response and there appears to be only inaction, then you’re eventually going to lose confidence.

“If that confidence is lacking then people won’t go to the trouble of intervening and we therefore increase the risk.”

Child protection advocate Belinda Valentine, whose four-year-old granddaughter Chloe died in 2012 after repeatedly falling off a motorcycle she was forced to ride in her mother’s backyard, said people often contacted her raising concerns about government inaction.

She told ABC Radio Adelaide that the department needed to employ people with “lived experience” who could understand people’s concerns when they reported child neglect or abuse.

“They call me or other advocates if they are desperate because they just don’t know what else to do,” she said.

“There is a gap in the system. There is nowhere for them to go if they don’t agree with decisions being made.”

Close said she would speak to Child Protection Minister Katrine Hildyard to “see what’s in place at the moment”.

“We absolutely should be making sure that there’s another path for people to take if they’re concerned that things aren’t working,” she said.

“No one wants to do the wrong thing by families or children – we are all trying to do our best – but what’s happened here needs to be understood very, very clearly and it does need to be made public.”

The terms of reference for the Department of Premier and Cabinet inquiry, to be led by chief executive Damien Walker, are:

• Chronology of services delivered and agencies engaged,
• Roles, responsibilities and interactions of respective agencies,
• Effectiveness of interventions and government services,
• Identification of any system improvements

A spokesperson from the Department of Premier and Cabinet told InDaily the government would seek to undertake the review “as expediently as possible but must ensure it won’t jeopardise the ongoing criminal investigation”.

“The review needs to be thorough and meaningful and will be resourced accordingly with some of the best people from across the department,” they said.

InDaily asked the Department for Child Protection whether it was reviewing any other child protection files or cases following Charlie’s death, or whether a separate internal inquiry would be undertaken into its involvement.

A spokesperson responded: “As announced yesterday, SA Police have established a taskforce to investigate this tragic death.

“In addition, the State Government has announced a review to be led by the Department of Premier and Cabinet (DPC) will examine the interactions between government agencies and the family.

“All government agencies, including the Department for Child Protection (DCP), will fully co-operate with these investigations.”