It is a list of children's initials, ages, counties and conditions, all information compiled by the state's Children Youth and Families Department at the request of State Rep. Kathy McCoy, R-Sandia Knolls. It's cold, grim facts.

R.K., 3 years old from Eastern Bernalillo County, fracture, 11/8/09.

A.B., 6 months old from McKinley County, shaken baby, 10/31/09.

N.L., five months old from Roosevelt County, death, 11/14/09.

There are 74 children listed for 2009, 38 of them died. In 2008, 17 of them died. They range in age from teenagers to 1-month-olds.

The cover letter states it is a list of all child injuries and deaths that were made known to CYFD. A very few of those listed were due to car crashes, but the majority seem to be cases of abuse.

Going back to 2007, there were seven children who died as a result of child abuse and neglect and 6,065 New Mexico children were confirmed abused, neglected or both, according to figures from the Every Child Matters Education Fund, a non-profit whose stated goal is influencing politics and elections to making children, youth, and families a national priority.

But not all the cases are reported, McCoy said. She had asked for the information, in part, because she broke down in tears over a television news report about an abused child, one in what seemed to be an endless string of stories on the news. She said she wants to know what can be done to stop the abuse of New Mexico.

"Infants being killed or horribly maimed," she said. "It seemed that we just had a rash of them … it just breaks your heart."

She said she wants to see whether New Mexico is doing all it can to prevent child abuse and how the state rates compared to other states.

In terms of spending, the state ranks pretty low, according to a report by the Every Child Matters Education Fund.

In 2007, New Mexico spent $37.69 per capita on child welfare, the sixth lowest in the nation. Connecticut was highest, with $196.67 and Virginia ranked lowest at $28.60.

"Although a clear correlation has not been established on how much states spend on child protective services and their child abuse and neglect death rates, states which do allocate more funds are more likely to investigate all abuse and neglect reports, not just some, because social workers have more manageable workloads," the report states.

The fund does make a clear case that being among the poorest states doesn't help the situation.

According to the foundation, the best predictor of child abuse and neglect is poverty. A child whose family brings in $15,000 per year or less is 22 times more likely to be abused than one whose family makes $30,000 or more, according to a study sited by the foundation.

In New Mexico, 25 percent of children 18 and under are living in poverty, which is defined as house of four earning $20,000 or less per year and the state is ranked 47th out of 50 states for poverty, according to Kids Count, a 2007 national publication.

Some 11 percent of the state's children live in extreme poverty, or a house of four earning $10,000 or less per year, or less. Those numbers may get worse with the continuing national economic crisis.

What can be done about the situation isn't exactly clear, McCoy said, but she will continue looking into the issue.

"Is there a gap that we don't see, or is there something that we can do to prevent some of this?" she asked. "A lot of it really is drugs and alcohol."

Beyond that, there are also teenagers raising children, McCoy said, which can also lead to abuse.

"They don't understand that they are raising a child, not a Labrador retriever," she said. "They treat them like they're some little animal or something, like they're not human beings …"