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Investigations seek details of govt contact with alleged child neglect case

Three separate investigations are now underway to establish a timeline of government interactions with a six-year-old girl named Charlie who died in a suspected case of criminal neglect last week.

Jul 20, 2022, updated Jul 20, 2022
Six-year-old Charlie. Photo: 10 News First

Six-year-old Charlie. Photo: 10 News First

Charlie, whose name was revealed yesterday, was found unresponsive in her Munno Para home in the early hours of Friday, July 15. She was transported to the Lyell McEwin Hospital but died shortly after.

SA Police’s Task Force Prime is conducting a major criminal neglect investigation into the six-year-old child’s death and the treatment of five other siblings who were living at the same Munno Para property.

Authorities revealed on Tuesday that multiple government agencies were “actively involved” with Charlie’s family for a period of at least two years – prompting the state government to commission a multi-agency review from the Department of Premier and Cabinet.

Child Protection Minister Katrine Hildyard said the departments for Child Protection, Education, Human Services and Housing all had contact with the family.

But Hildyard repeatedly declined to comment on when Charlie was last visited by authorities, prompting deputy police commissioner Linda Williams to step in and say an accurate timeline “is not known yet to the investigators”.

“There’s a criminal investigation, which has primacy; there’s a coronial investigation, which under the Coroners Act the coroner knows that the criminal investigation takes primacy; and there has been a review announced to be headed by DPC,” Williams told reporters on Tuesday.

“The process of conducting [the criminal investigation] to establish whether there’s any culpability by anybody in Charlie’s death … has to be clearly navigated through from an evidential foundation.

“We need to establish chronology, we need to establish who was involved, how they’re involved, what documentation there is to support that, and people have to be either interviewed or statements taken from them.

“It will happen as quickly as possible, but the answers to those questions with an accurate response is not known yet to the investigators, so it can’t be known to either myself or the ministers at this point in time.”

Williams said SAPOL also had interactions with the family.

Asked whether investigators don’t know yet whether the child was ever sighted by government workers, Williams said: “They know that there are indications on systems that there was interaction between the family and the children by various government departments.”

“There have clearly been interactions, but the chronology needs to be very accurate and it needs to be worked through so that that evidence is gathered in an appropriate manner if there is going to be criminal culpability and if there is fault by individuals or anyone else that needs to be assessed.

“That’s the process that has to be undertaken.”

The terms of reference for the Department of Premier and Cabinet cross-agency inquiry 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.

Hildyard said all agencies involved would fully cooperate with the various inquiries into Charlie’s death.

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