Aboriginal child deaths on rise in SA

Aboriginal children in South Australia were almost four times more likely to die than non-Aboriginal kids over the past decade, a new report has found.

The state's overall child death rate steadily declined in the 10 years to December 2014, the Child Death and Serious Injury Review Committee says.

But the mortality rate for Aboriginal children increased over the same period, with the majority of deaths caused by illness and disease.

More than 60 per cent of the 131 Aboriginal children who died between 2005 and 2014 had been in contact with Families SA, the state's child protection agency.

Many had experienced childhoods shaped by domestic violence, sexual abuse, chronic health problems and low school attendance.

"The context is often one of disadvantage, arising in part, from the circumstances of their parents' lives and histories," committee chair Dymphna Eszenyi said.

Many parents who had themselves experienced childhood trauma were suspicious of support agencies, reducing the likelihood of early intervention in health issues.

Agencies needed to do more to promote cultural awareness and to respond to abuse notifications quickly and effectively, the committee said.

"The system's heightened response after a critical incident is notable," Ms Eszenyi said.

"It must be supposed that some of this effort made earlier might have spared the children and their families these tragic outcomes."