An "extremely rare" string of arrests has led to three people being charged with manslaughter over the deaths of three children in separate cases of alleged neglect.
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South Australia Police Assistant Commissioner John Venditto said it had taken considerable work by two separate task forces to bring the matters to court.
"It's extremely rare in South Australia to charge an adult with the death of a child. To charge three in one day is unprecedented," he told reporters on Wednesday.
While the charges were not linked, Mr Venditto said each of the adults charged owed a duty of care to a child.
Task Force Prime charged the mother of an Adelaide girl with manslaughter on Wednesday after a major crime investigation into the six-year-old's alleged neglect.
Charlie Nowland was found unresponsive at the family's Munno Para home in July and died in hospital.
She had coeliac disease, an immune reaction to gluten, and a hereditary heart condition, her mother Crystal Nowland said after her death last year.
Nowland, 47, was charged with her daughter's manslaughter on Wednesday after being led away from her home.
She is due to appear in Adelaide Magistrates Court later on Wednesday.
The police investigation came in addition to a state government review into the handling of the case by various government agencies.
Four agencies - child protection, housing, human services and education - all had interactions with the family.
SA Police Deputy Commissioner Linda Williams said last year's interim autopsy results raised concerns about the state of the girl's health and wellbeing at the time of her death.
A 50-year-old man from Craigmore in Adelaide's north was charged with manslaughter in relation to the death of seven-year-old Makai Wanganeen in February 2022.
The boy was taken to Adelaide's Lyell McEwin Hospital and later transferred to the Women's and Children's Hospital but died the same day.
A post-mortem was conducted and identified several serious health issues but they were not initially considered suspicious.
The task force also charged a 54-year-old woman with manslaughter over the October 2018 death of 15-year-old Jasmine Wilmott.
The woman was initially arrested in relation to criminal neglect in 2020 but the charges were dropped a year later.
But continued work by Task Force Veritas found new evidence which prompted police to lay a charge of manslaughter against her, Mr Venditto said.
"It was like a cold case review of a homicide," he said.
In August last year the South Australian government appointed former police commissioner Mal Hyde to lead a review into how government departments handled two of the cases of neglect.
Australian Associated Press
