In 2010, Michael and Kristine Barnett adopted Natalia in Florida. The couple was told she was from Ukraine and had a rare form of dwarfism.
Kristine and Michael Barnetts adopted Natalia when she was just six years old. Natalia had been under the care of different foster families before she finally found a family for herself.
Natalia is suffering from dwarfism – a condition that makes her smaller than her age. However, the Barnetts didn’t take that as an issue and instead continued to provide for her needs and integrated her into their family of 5.
However, everything changed, when Kristine tried bathing Natalia.
Shortly after starting, Kristine moved out of the bathroom and pulled her husband to the side before explaining in horror that Natalia might not be telling the whole truth.
Accordingly, Natalia is actually a girl who has gone puberty. The features on her body made the couple realize that she was older than she was letting on and that her dwarfism may have precluded reality.
“Natalia was a woman. She had periods. She had adult teeth. She never grew a single inch, which would happen even with a child with dwarfism,” the Barnetts said as quoted by BBC.
The story just got worse from there.
Kristine and Michael Barnetts then claimed that Natalia was planning on k!lling their family. At one point, Michael said that Natalia allegedly tried to p0is0n Kristine.
The Barnetts also said that Natalia planned on st@bbing the entire family in their sleep. The story then took one drastic turn after the other.
Kristine and her husband refused to believe that Natalia was actually six when they took her in.
2 years after the Barnetts adopted Natalia, the couple took the case to court and asked them to change Natalia’s birthdate from 2003 to 1989.
Kristine claimed that Natalia’s bone tests could prove that she might be around 14 years old back in 2010. They then made her live on her own for a year in a furnished and paid apartment.
In 2014, Natalia told the police that she has been abandoned. The Barnetts moved north to Canada to start their lives anew without Natalia in the picture. The couple then divorced soon after.
For Natalia, she denied all of these allegations when she came on Dr. Phil. She said that while she was returned to the orphanage after accidentally injuring another child, she had no intentions of hurting the Barnetts. She considered them the “perfect family,” for her.
The couple has been charged with two counts of felony neglect where a Tippecanoe County judge issued warrants for their arrests.
The Barnetts maintained that they were victims in the case.
Michael’s attorney, Terrance Kinnard, said that the couple was a victim of fr@ud. According to hospital records from 2010, Natalia was approximately 8 years old.
Natalia is currently living with Antwon and Cynthia Mans. The couple believes that she was 16 years old by the time they adopted her.
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