A new report from the Children’s Bureau of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says that Indiana and our neighbor to the south have child abuse rates more than double the national average.

The federal agency's latest Child Maltreatment report, which covers incidents reported and investigated in 2017, shows that there were 29,189 victims of child abuse in Indiana. That translates to a rate of 18.6 victims per 1,000 children.

Meanwhile, the national average is 9.1 victims per 1,000 children.

Kentucky topped the list with 22,410 victims and a rate of 22.2 victims per 1,000 children.

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Indiana's child abuse rate has grown each year, from 13.7 victims per 1,000 children in 2013 to the 2017 rate of 18.6 victims.

Indiana also comes in third for child fatality rates with 4.96 deaths per 100,000. The national average is 2.32 deaths per 100,000 children.

Nationally, Arkansas had the highest child fatality rate, with 5.24 deaths per 100,000 children.

The Child Maltreatment report is built from data collected by child welfare agencies in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C. States provide the data through the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System, which says that child victims are counted if a state is able to determine a "substantiated case" of abuse or neglect.

Nationally, there were 674,000 victims of child abuse in 2017. That's up from the 656,000 victims reported in 2013, but down from the 2015 total of 683,221.

The 2017 data says 74.9 percent of victims nationwide are neglected, 18.3 percent are physically abused and 8.6 percent are sexually abused.

The report states that 91.6 percent of victims are mistreated by one or both parents either acting together, acting alone or acting with up to two other people.

The report goes on to say that 69 percent of victims are maltreated by a mother.

Noelle Russell, deputy director of communications for the Indiana Department of Child Services, told the Courier Journal in an email that a state-led policy group made recommendations last summer on ways to improve child welfare in the state.

Gov. Eric Holcomb allotted $25 million to DCS to help the department implement recommendations from that report, Russell said.

Louisville Courier Journal reproter Billy Kobin contributed to this storyCall IndyStar reporter Justin L. Mack at 317-444-6138. Follow him on Twitter: @justinlmack