A startling new report has revealed Aboriginal children were almost four times more likely to die than non-Aboriginal children in South Australia over the past ten years despite the overall child death rate declining.
According to the Child Death and Serious Injury Review Committee the mortality rate for Aboriginal children has increased during the last decade due to illness and disease.
More than 60 per cent of the 131 Aboriginal children who died between 2005 and 2014 had received contact from the state's child protection agency.
The childhoods of many Aboriginal children have been shaped by Indigenous disadvantage with the Committee saying agencies need to do more to promote cultural awareness while responding to reports of abuse quickly and effectively.