The number of South Australian families in the child protection system has grown since COVID-19 began, putting pressure on already stretched services, according to an expert in vulnerable families.
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Australian Centre for Child Protection's acting director, Melissa O'Donnell, has urged for more resources for family support services after a six-year-old girl died in an alleged case of criminal neglect.
Ms O'Donnell said concerns about the welfare of one in three children in South Australia are being reported to child protection authorities.
The researcher said more families have been struggling with issues of mental health, substance abuse, homelessness, family and domestic violence.
She said COVID-19 — "in terms of isolation" — has made it worse for struggling families as well as impacting their support workers.
"Given the high number of families involved in the child protection system in terms of notifications, it's clear that we're not doing enough to provide the supports and therapeutic responses that are required for families who are facing such complex needs."
Ms O'Donnell said resources were sorely needed in the child protection system, but also for early intervention services.
"More families are being notified to the system and are being repeatedly notified to the system so the resources required — to investigate families and to look at the needs of that family — [are] stretched," she said.
"More money needs to be put into those programs that support families before they get to the point of needing a child protection intervention.
"The focus needs to be on the therapeutic supports being offered to families with complex needs."
Multiple inquiries into child protection
Police have launched a taskforce into the circumstances surrounding the death of Charlie, who was taken to hospital unconscious last week and died shortly after arriving.
They will also investigate the alleged neglect of her five siblings, aged between seven and 16 years, who also lived in the Munno Para house.
The ABC can report the children's father has recently been jailed for committing a serious and horrifying act of domestic violence against their mother, in front of the children.
Alongside the police investigation, the South Australian government will review the "interactions" that four separate agencies had with the family in the lead up to the girl's death.
The government is already undertaking a review — led by New South Wales bureaucrat Kate Alexander — into the child protection system after the State Deputy Coroner found the murders of Amber Rose Rigney, 6, and Korey Lee Mitchell, 5, could have been prevented.
In 2016, Commissioner Margaret Nyland made 260 recommendations to improve SA's child protection system.
However, Ms O'Donnell said, the state needed to implement reforms in the state's child protection system.
"There are so many recommendations now from those reviews that we really need to … ensure that they are being implemented correctly," she said.
Former commissioner for victims' rights Michael O'Connell said Charlie's death was history repeating itself, despite multiple royal commissions and inquiries in South Australia into child protection.
