How Could You? Hall of Shame-Ukrainian Adoptive Parents Michael and Kristine Barnett UPDATED
This will be an archive of heinous actions by those involved in child welfare, foster care and adoption. We forewarn you that these are deeply disturbing stories that may involve sex abuse, murder, kidnapping and other horrendous actions.
From Lafayette, Indiana, a “five-year investigation resulted in charges against parents accused of changing their adopted daughter’s age before abandoning her and moving to Canada.
Michael and Kristine Barnett are charged with neglect of a dependent, according to court documents filed in Tippecanoe County.
The girl told police she was originally from Ukraine and came to the U.S. in 2008 via an adoption program. The Barnetts became her adoptive parents in 2010, according to court documents. The girl, who has a form of dwarfism called spondyloepiphyseal, lived with the family in Hamilton County for two years.
In July 2013, the Barnetts rented an apartment for her on North 11th Street in Lafayette, left her alone and then moved the rest of the family to Canada, court documents said.
Police interviewed the girl in September 2014. She told them she “had not seen the Barnetts since they moved to Canada.”
The couple also had her presumptive age changed from 8 years old to 22 years old in an Indiana Probate Court, according to court documents, although the process through which the age change was made was unclear.
Kristine Barnett told the girl to tell people she was 22 and simply “looks young” for her age, investigators said. In June 2010, a doctor estimated her age at 8. An evaluation in June 2012 showed the girl was about 11 years old, court documents said.
During an interview in September 2019, Michael Barnett told investigators the family had her age “legally changed” even though they were aware she was a minor. Other than paying for rent at the Lafayette apartment, the couple didn’t support the girl financially, court documents said.
The girl has since moved out of Tippecanoe County, police said. For a time, she was enrolled at a tuition-free high school that provides adults and older youth with the opportunity to earn a Core 40 diploma and college credit, reported WFLI.
Michael Barnett and Kristine Barnett both have Indianapolis addresses, according to court documents.”
Court Docs Indiana couple Changed Daughters Age before moving to Canada
[Fox 59 9/13/19]
“The parents accused of abandoning their adopted daughter in Lafayette before fleeing to Canada have turned themselves in.
According to the Tippecanoe County Sheriff’s Office, Kristine Barnett turned herself in Thursday morning. Her ex-husband, Michael Barnett, turned himself in Wednesday. Both have been released on bond.
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The Barnetts, who are no longer married, adopted a girl from Ukraine, according to police. The girl told police she lived with them in Hamilton County before they left her at an apartment in Lafayette in 2013 and moved to Canada, according to court documents.
They’re accused of having the girl’s age legally changed from 8 years old to 22 years old before they left. Michael Barnett told police his wife advised the girl to tell other people she looked young for her age. The girl has a form of dwarfism.
Both face charges of neglect of a dependent.”
Couple accused of abandoning Adopted Daughter and fleeing to Canada arrested, released on bond
[Fox 59 9/19/19]
What agency placed this child?Is she really an adult?[As of January 1,2024 w know that Florida’s Adoptions by Shepherds Care and Gateway Woods, Leo, Indiana placed this child]
REFORM Puzzle Piece
Update: “A couple accused of abandoning their adopted daughter says the allegations are false, and they’re the victims.
According to court documents filed earlier this month in Tippecanoe County, Kristine and Michael Barnett adopted a Ukranian-born girl with dwarfism in 2010, but they abandoned her in Lafayette in 2013 when they moved to Canada.
They’re accused of changing the girl’s age from 8 to 22 before they left, and they told the girl to tell other people she looks young for her age.
They were both charged with neglect of a dependent, and they bonded out of the Tippecanoe County Jail last week.
But in an interview with Daily Mail, Kristine says the adoption was a “scam,” and the girl is actually an adult who has made a career out of fooling people into thinking she’s a young girl.
Kristine told Daily Mail she and her now ex-husband agreed to an emergency adoption from an adoption center in Florida. They didn’t know many details about the girl’s background. They just knew she needed a home immediately because her previous adoptive parents gave her up for undisclosed reasons.
Within the first few weeks, Kristine told Daily Mail there were signs their new daughter wasn’t actually a young girl. She had a sophisticated vocabulary, she shunned other children, and she had a period.
They took the girl to a family physician who ordered bone density tests to help determine her actual age. The results suggested she was at least 14, so Kristine says their family began treating her like a teenager.
But then Kristine says the girl started making death threats against them. She allegedly tried to poison Kristine and push her into an electric fence, and she attacked a baby.
The Barnett family took the girl to a state-run psychiatric unit to get help. During treatment, the girl allegedly confessed to being much older, and she said she wanted to kill her family.
WLFI got a doctor’s report that says the Barnett’s daughter is actually an adult. The letter says the girl has “made a career of perpetuating her age façade,” and she has “continued to fool those who have the best intentions.”
They legally changed the girl’s age in June 2012 with the Marion County Superior Court so she could receive appropriate psychiatric treatment.
Kristine told Daily Mail they helped her get a social security number, apply for benefits, food stamps, and an ID.
In August 2012, she was discharged from secure psychiatric care, and she was placed under the supervision of state healthcare provider Aspire Indiana.
When she was kicked out of that facility, Kristine says they helped secure housing for her in Lafayette. They continued to pay for her housing when they moved to Canada for their son Jacob’s education.
Jacob, now 21, is a physics prodigy. The entire family moved to Canada so he could attend the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ontario.
While in Lafayette, the girl attended classes at the Lafayette Adult Resource Academy. WLFI spoke with a woman who was her colleague and neighbor. She says the girl just stopped going to class one day.
Court documents obtained by WLFI show she was evicted from the apartment in May 2014.
By then, Kristine says she vanished and stopped returning her calls. She fears she stopped taking her medication and is posing as a child for another family.
“I would have forced her back into treatment, but I couldn’t do that any longer because she was an adult,” Kristine told Daily Mail.
In 2016, a couple applied to become the girl’s guardians, but the Barnetts filed an objection, saying she was an adult. Kristine says witnesses came before the court to testify they were certain the girl was 22. “The judge upheld the original results, and the couple dropped the guardianship petition,” Kristine told Daily Mail.
Kristine says it doesn’t make sense why they’re being charged with crimes now, several years after her age was upheld in court for the second time.
Michael is expected to appear in Tippecanoe Superior Court in Lafayette today. It’s unclear when Kristine’s next court appearance is.”
Indiana couple accused of abandoning daughter says she was actually an adult who tried to kill them
[Fox 59 9/24/19]
“A judge has set a hearing for Michael Barnett’s petition to release mental health records. Barnett had an appearance telephonically in court for the first time Tuesday morning.
He is the father accused in a strange Tippecanoe County child neglect case that News 18 helped break earlier this month.
His attorney, Terrance Kinnard, called into Tippecanoe Superior Court II this morning after a motion was granted for Barnett to appear over the phone. Deputy Prosecutor Jackie Starbuck and Judge Steven Meyer appeared in person.
Judge Meyer set a hearing for the release of mental health records filed by the defense Wednesday. The records are protected by state statute. The hearing is set for Oct. 15 at 1:30 p.m. in Superior Court II, due to a 15 day notice for medical providers. It is confidential and closed to the public.
A notice of the hearing will also go to the adopted Barnett girl at the center of the investigation. Kinnard said the defense did not have contact information for the victim, and the state would need to make contact.
Barnett also gave permission for school records to be released for his son Jacob at IUPUI (Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis). The request was filed by the state, noting they would fall under the Family Educational Rights and Protection Act (FERPA). However, Kinnard said he only represents Michael Barnett and could not speak for the accused mother, Kristine.
It all comes in the wake of the bizarre case that’s been going on for most of this decade. An affidavit, filed on Sept. 11 by the Tippecanoe County prosecutor, alleges the Barnetts, now divorced, rented an apartment on North 11th Street in 2013 and left the girl alone. The rest of the family then reportedly moved to Canada for their son Jacob’s education
News 18 is choosing not to name the girl, due to discrepancy over her age.
Before they left, prosecutors said the Barnetts legally changed the Ukrainian girl’s age from 8 to 22-years-old. That process, even in Tuesday’s initial hearing, remains unclear. The couple told the girl to tell others she just “looks young,” according to court documents.
Prosecutors said the girl had a form of dwarfism called spondyloepiphyseal. Court documents cite two doctor reports where they say the girl’s age was about 8-years-old in 2010 and 11-years-old in 2012.
A doctor’s report, obtained by WISH-TV reporter Dan Klein from Kristine Barnett, said the girl is an adult. The doctor said, “Over time it has become increasingly apparent that this patient is substantially older than she claimed to be.”
As News 18 reported Monday, a friend of Kristine Barnett said the adopted girl physically harmed the family, and that she was an adult the entire time.
Both Michael and Kristine Barnett turned themselves in last week and bonded out of the Tippecanoe County Jail.
An initial hearing for Michael Barnett is set for Friday.
This case is only just starting, and News 18 will be following it until the end.”
Records requested as Michael Barnett appears in court for first time via phone
[WLFI 9/24/19 by Trevor Peters]
Update 2:“The attorney for an Indiana man accused of abandoning his adopted daughter says he and his ex-wife were “victims of fraud” when they adopted the girl back in 2010.
Michael and Kristine Barnett both pleaded not guilty to neglect charges in Tippecanoe County on Friday.
The two were charged and arrested following a five-year investigation that accuses them of leaving behind a girl from the Ukraine who they adopted in 2010.
Michael’s attorney, Terrance Kinnard, says there’s more to the story than meets the eye. He believes his client and his wife, at the time, were the victims of fraud when they were led into the adoption back in 2010.
“It is clear in our mind that they are, in fact, the victims of a fraud or ruse perpetuated upon them back when they were first requested to adopt this individual that was alleged to be a child when in fact, she’s not,” Kinnard said.
According to Kinnard, they do not know the girl’s actual age, but based on court findings in the past, they believe she is an adult.
Court documents filed against Michael and Kristine claim they had the child’s legal age changed from 8 years old to 22 years old in June 2012.
“The courts have indicated that she was, in fact, an adult,” Kinnard said. “The court gave her the age of 22 based on the evidence they heard at the hearings back in 2012 and 2017.”
Those same court documents state that a year after the girl’s age was changed, the couple bought her an apartment in Lafayette and left her there while they moved to Canada. They state Kristine told the girl to tell people that she “looks young,” but was actually 22. The couple continued to pay the girl’s rent but did not cover any other expenses.
Kinnard would not comment on specifics about Michael’s defense, but he says the charges against his client came out of nowhere and the Barnetts had not been in contact with the girl for a “fair number of years” before they were filed.
“To say they were shocked would be an understatement,” Kinnard said. “They are still bewildered as to why they are placed in this position.”
Kinnard said he has not yet been able to interview the girl involved, but they do not believe age or disability will play a factor in the case. He said now that formal charges have been filed, they will be able to speak to the girl at some point.
“We have no indication that this individual has ever been honest about what her true age is,” Kinnard said. “We do have anecdotal reports that she’s also indicated to other individuals that she’s also an adult outside of what the court itself has ruled outside those two court hearings.”
“My client’s feelings toward this particular individual have never wavered, they still hold her dear in their hearts. They still believe she is a person who deserves love and support, they have never deprived her of that, but nonetheless they have now found themselves in this position and now my clients are legally prohibited from having any contact with this person.”
Attorney: Man accused of abandoning girl from Ukraine says adoption was a fraud
[Fox 47 9/27/19]
” A lawyer who once represented the Ukrainian orphan at the center of an adoption scandal in Indiana says the girl was still a child when he represented her, despite her mother claiming she was a mentally disturbed woman posing as a minor.
Attorney Ladona Sorenson represented Natalia in 2013, a year after Michael and Kristine Barnett changed the girl’s age in her birth records from 8 to 22, according to court records seen by the Lafayette Journal and Courier.
“I do not believe her to be an adult at the time I represented her,” Sorenson told the Journal and Courier.
Sorenson was appointed Natalia’s lawyer by the court when another family unsuccessfully attempted to take guardianship of Natalia in 2013. The case was unsuccessful because a judge had approved her age change a year earlier.
The Barnetts were charged last week with neglect of a dependent in Tippecanoe County, Indiana. They’re accused of abandoning Natalia and moving to Canada in 2013.
Natalia has a type of dwarfism called spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia, which makes her age difficult to accurately record without a birth certificate. Though she was said to be 6 when the Barnetts adopted her in 2010, NBC News said it saw hospital records showing her age as about 8 in June 2010.
There are disputes over Natalia’s real age
Citing court documents, WISH-TV, an Indianapolis CW affiliate, reported that the girl’s age was changed from 8 to 22 in 2012. The report also said a skeletal survey at Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital deemed her to be 11 at the time.
But WLFI-TV, a CBS affiliate, obtained what appears to be an Indiana University Health report from 2016 that said Natalia was an adult. The document hasn’t been verified but says that she had “made a career of perpetuating her age facade” and “continued to fool those who have the best intentions.”
Now, Natalia would either be 14, 16, or 22, depending on which records are actually accurate.
“The most egregious part of it is that this child was turned into an adult without any representation, without any due process safeguards being instituted by that court,” Michael Troemel, who was representing the family who tried to take guardianship of Natalia, told the Journal and Courier.
Troemel said the girl was omitted from participating in due process in the age-changing case because the Barnetts filed an ex-parte petition.
“This kid’s sitting out there, and her parents say, ‘Well, we’re going to turn you into an adult.’ Which is what I find incredibly offensive,” Troemel told the Journal and Courier.
Kristine Barnett said that Natalia was an adult who tormented her family
Kristine Barnett told the Daily Mail this week that the adoption was a scam and that the girl was not who they thought she was.
She said that she and her now ex-husband agreed to an emergency adoption in Florida in 2010. She said they didn’t know many details about Natalia’s background but were told that her previous adoptive parents gave her up for undisclosed reasons.
Kristine Barnett said that Natalia terrorized her family, tried to stab them while they were sleeping, once tried to push her toward an electric fence, and poured bleach in her coffee.
Michael Barnett, meanwhile, told investigators that he and his now-ex-wife knew Natalia was not an adult when they left her in Lafayette, Indiana, and moved to Canada.
Troemel told the Journal and Courier that he doesn’t know where Natalia is now, but that another family had taken her in after the Barnetts moved to Canada in 2013.
Daily Mail Online reported on Friday that Natalia is living with a Christian family in Indiana that treats her like a child. It’s unclear if the family is the same one that Troemel said took over Natalia’s care six years ago.
He said the main goal of the 2013 guardianship hearing was to change Natalia’s age back to her original 2003 birthday.
“Our primary goal was to get the child in school at that time,” he said. ”
[Insider 9/27/19 by Kelly Mc Laughlin]
Update 3:“A father who claimed his 6-year-old adopted daughter was actually a 22-year-old woman who wanted to ‘kill’ his family ‘doesn’t believe’ he will go to prison despite facing abandonment charges.
Michael Barnett, 43, told on This Morning how he and ex-wife Kristine Barnett, 45, agreed to the emergency adoption of Ukrainian-born Natalia Grace, six, in May 2010 after receiving a cold call from an adoption agency, and meeting her for just five minutes.
After growing suspicious of the girl’s odd mannerisms and mature behavior the couple took her to a medical expert who said she was a fully grown woman and Natalia’s legal age was changed to 22.
They left Natalia living alone in an apartment in Lafayette, Indiana in 2013 before moving to Canada one month later and breaking off contact.
However, a September 11 affidavit of probable cause obtained by DailyMailTV stated that experts carried out bone density tests on Natalia in June 2010 concluded that she was eight-years-old.
Now, they have been accused of criminal neglect for abandoning their adopted daughter, with police saying the girl was left to fend for herself for three years, despite having a rare form of dwarfism that means she is 3ft tall and has problems walking.
When asked whether he thought he could go to prison over the charges, Michael said: ‘I don’t believe that’s going to happen.
‘The charges are very easy for us to defend, but the fact is Natalia not once but three times has been ruled to be a fully grown adult
‘She has been legally adult for seven years.’
Barnett says he ‘should have noticed something unusual’ when he received a cold call from an adoption agency, who would offer no information other than two photographs, a Ukrainian birth certificate and an our of date doctor’s report.
He said: ‘They reached out to us they said “We have researched you, we think you should adopt this girl Natalia”. You shouldn’t be getting cold called out of nowhere.’
They were told they only had 24-hours to decide and met Natalia in a five minute meeting, where she was already calling the pair ‘mommy and daddy’ despite being put up for adoption by her biological family only days earlier.
Micheal appeared today via video link where he said he ‘doesn’t believe’ he will go to prison after facing abandonment charges.
He said they knew ‘something was very wrong’ when his wife noticed pubic hair while bathing Natalia, and immediately started to wonder about the girl’s age.
In June of 2012 the Barnetts successfully applied to Marion County Superior Court in Indianapolis, Indiana to have Natalia’s age ‘corrected’ so she could receive the appropriate psychiatric treatment for an adult.
In documents seen by DailyMailTV, Judge Gerald S. Zore accepted the couple’s allegations were ‘true’ and revised Natalia’s date of birth to September 4, 1989 – changing her age from eight to 22.
Micheal alleges that her behavior grew increasingly erratic when they introduced her to a Ukrainian friend, who wasn’t able to communicate with her – leading Micheal to believe she couldn’t understand the language the agency claimed she could speak.
He claims she began to terrorize the family, with the father-of-three telling that he once woke up in the middle of the night to her holding a knife over him, and how she threw his son’s most treasured possessions into the road in the hope they’d run into the traffic.
He said: ‘She got very angry and very upset and began to lash out.
‘She would put thumbtacks face down on our stairs, we would find knives under her bed.
‘I woke up in the middle of the night and she as standing there with a knife in her hand and a blank look on her face.
‘She tried to harm my sons in a very serious manner.’
He explained an incident that occurred that while dropping off one of his sons at school, when Natalia had stolen a treasured item from each one of his sons, and threw them into a busy road in the hope that they would run out after them.
He said: ‘Natalia found something that meant something very important to each of my boys.
‘She made sure the boys were paying attention and launched everything into the air into traffic’
‘Natalia would simply tell us very coldly and very directly i’m trying to kill the boys’.
Michael’s former wife Kristine previously told how she was terrorized for years by the mysterious impostor who threatened to stab them in their sleep, pushed her towards an electric fence and poured bleach in her coffee.”
“A September 11 affidavit of probable cause obtained by DailyMailTV states that an expert at the Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital named Dr. Riggs carried out bone density tests on Natalia in June 2010.
It concluded she was aged approximately eight years old.
A further skeletal test carried out two years later at the same facility concluded she was around 11 years old.
The affidavit reveals that it was Natalia herself who told police in 2014 that she had been ‘left alone’ when her adoptive parents moved to Canada, with cops concluding she was a ‘reliable and credible’ witness.”
Father who claimed his Ukrainian adopted daughter with dwarfism was an adult ‘sociopath’ masquerading as a child insists he ‘doesn’t believe’ he will go to prison
[Daily Mail 10/14/19 by Monica Greep]
“Both parents pleaded not guilty during an initial hearing. A trial date has been set for Jan. 28, 2020.”
Child abandonment or murderous scam? Bizarre case of Ukrainian adoption gone wrong
[USA Today 10/11/19 by Nate Chute and Ron Wilkins]
Update 4:“A judge has issued a gag order in the case of a couple accused of abandoning their adopted daughter in Indiana and moving to Canada.
Tippecanoe Superior 2 Judge Steve Meyer told Michael Barnett, Kristine Barnett and their counsel that they can’t discuss the girl’s medical, mental or education records in media interviews.
The judge said they may discuss the allegations and their defense in general terms, as long as their comments do not impugn the couple’s adopted daughter. They face two counts of neglect.
Authorities said the now-divorced couple adopted the Ukrainian orphan with dwarfism in 2010, and a doctor estimated her to be 8 years old that same year. Before leaving for Canada in 2013, the couple legally changed her age to 22.
The Barnetts have been detailing the girl’s mental health and medical conditions in talk show appearances and media interviews, the Journal and Courier reported. They each claimed in interviews that they were scammed because the girl was posing as a child.
Tippecanoe County Deputy Prosecutor Jackie Starbuck said the state did not oppose to those statements.
Starbuck said that prosecutors filed for a gag order last week because those characteristics can cause pretrial publicity that makes it difficult to find unbiased jurors.
The motion for a gag order noted interviews in The Daily Mail in the United Kingdom, “Good Morning America,” ”The Dr. Oz Show” and “Inside Edition” as reasons for the order.
Michael Barnett’s attorney, Terrance Kinnard, said that the Barnetts gave the interviews defend their character.
Starbuck noted the Barnetts’ rebuff of the charges went further and attacked the Barnetts’ adopted daughter’s character by describing her using words such as “sociopath.”
Meyer said that he has avoided reading anything pertaining to the case. But last week’s filing forced him to read and watch accounts and interviews to determine if the publicity jeopardizes the ability for the Barnetts to find an impartial jury.”
Gag order issued for couple accused of leaving adopted girl
[FOX 59 10/29/19 by AP]
Update 5:“Prosecutors are looking to file four additional charges against an Indiana couple accused of abandoning their adopted daughter.
Michael and Kristine Barnett, who were charged in September with two counts of neglect of a dependent, now possibly face six to 20 years in prison if convicted, according to the Journal and Carrier.
If the prosecutors’ proposed new charges are allowed, the felony will move to a Class B felony.
The now-divorced couple adopted 6-year-old Natalia, who has a severe form of dwarfism, in 2010. Three years later, they claimed she was actually an adult con artist trying to kill them.
The Barnetts moved to Canada and left Natalia in an apartment in Lafayette.
Tippecanoe Superior 2 Judge Steve Meyers is set to hear arguments on the motion on Dec. 27.”
Prosecutors plan to file 4 new charges against Indiana couple accused of abandoning adopted daughter
[Fox 59 12/21/19 by AP]
Update 6:“The couple accused last year of neglecting and abandoning their adopted Ukrainian daughter is now facing more severe felony charges.
Kristine and Michael Barnett were charged on Dec. 27 with additional felonies based on their alleged neglect of a dependent resulting in bodily injury, after they left their adopted daughter Natalia Grace in a Lafayette apartment and departed to Canada, according to court documents. Their previous charges were less severe neglect of a dependent allegations.
The elevation of the charges from a Level 6 Felony to a Level 3 one reflects the more serious implications of the alleged years of neglect Grace faced.
Grace, who has a rare form of dwarfism, has lived with another local family since then.
But a key element of the case remains unknown: Grace’s true age.
Her age was legally changed from 11 to 22 in Indiana courts in 2012, according to Michael Barnett in court documents. The couple told Grace to tell others she was actually 22 and just looked young, if asked during her time alone in Lafayette.
Since the Barnetts’ story hit national and global newsstands last year, a woman in Ukraine has come forward claiming to be Grace’s mother, according to court documents. As she would be able to testify regarding her alleged daughter’s age, the State has asked the court to grant a DNA test to prove the woman’s maternity and thus verify Grace’s true age.
The DailyMail interviewed Grace’s alleged mother in October about the girl’s actual age. The Ukranian woman said that Grace is only 16, and that she had to give her up to adoption due to Natalia’s dwarfism, according to the DailyMail.
The task of getting Grace’s DNA is made more difficult by the fact that, though she doesn’t object to such testing, as according to the Tippecanoe County court she is a minor and would have to have the signatures of her legal guardians, the Barnetts themselves. The State has thus asked the court to authorize Grace providing DNA samples through a mandated court order.”
Felony charges elevated in neglect of dependent case
[Purdue Exponent 1/7/2020]
Update 7:“A Ukrainian orphan has denied posing as a child and then threatening to kill the US family who had adopted her.
Natalia Grace Barnett has denied claims by her former adoptive parents that she is a fully grown woman, close to 30.
“I’m 16,” she said in her first interview.
“I was six years old when I came to the United States. I just know that a family came and visited me and after a while, they adopted me.”
Natalia, who has a form of dwarfism, says she had been under the care of several foster families in America before she was adopted by Kristine and Michael Barnett, who lived in Florida, in 2010.
Kristine and Michael have said they were led to believe Natalia was six years old when they adopted her, but doubted her age, believing her to have been closer to 20 at the time.
The Barnetts have said they felt threatened by Natalia and eventually moved to Canada without her – but paid a year’s rent on an apartment for her to live alone.
Kristine and Michael are currently facing charges of neglect and will stand trial in early 2020.
‘I thought I’d found the right family’
“I actually thought I’d found the right family after bouncing around a lot of families,” Natalia told US talk show host Dr Phil, about her adoption by the Barnetts.
“I thought I’d found the right family for me.”
Natalia admitted a previous family had returned her to US social services when she injured another child.
“One of the boys, me and him were really close so we wrestled almost, but I landed on his arm wrong so the mum thought I was trying to break his arm,” Natalia said.
In September this year, Kristine Barnett told Daily MailTV that Natalia threatened to stab her family in their sleep, tried to poison her coffee and tried to push her onto an electric fence.
Natalia denies all claims of trying to harm or kill the Barnetts or their children.
She told Dr Phil that poison claims were a misunderstanding while cleaning with Kristine, denies plans to stab them and says she would only have entered their bedroom at night if she had had a nightmare.
Natalia also said that while she lived alone for a year as an eight-year-old, she lived on canned food left for her by the Barnetts.
She had been enrolled in an adult school and claims she was told by Kristine Barnett to tell others than she was 22 years old.
She appeared on the US chat show with Antwon and Cynthia Mans, the couple who she now lives with and who believe her to be a 16-year-old.
They say she has posed no harm to their family.
What claims were made against Natalia?
Natalia was first adopted by Kristine and Michael Barnett – who already had three sons – in 2010. They say they believed she was a six-year-old from Ukraine, with a form of dwarfism.
But the family have claimed that shortly after adopting Natalia, they became suspicious about her real age because of her behaviour and maturity.
In September this year, Kristine told DailyMailTV that Natalia spoke more like a teenager than a child, didn’t want to play with toys and wanted to spend time with older girls.
She also says there were physical signs that she might be older than the family believed.
“I was giving her a bath and I noticed that she had full pubic hair. I was so shocked,” she said.
“I had just been told she was a six year old and it was very apparent she wasn’t.
‘She had periods and adult teeth’
“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.”
Natalia denied that she had periods while she was living with the Barnetts in her Dr Phil interview.
Later, Kristine and Michael claim, Natalia became a danger to their family.
In 2012 the Barnetts filed a motion with the Marion County Superior Court in Florida to have the date on Natalia’s birth certificate changed from 2003 to 1989.
Kristine claims bone tests proved that Natalia was 14 or older at the time of her adoption, and says that Natalia confessed to being older than she pretended to be during a long-term stay in a psychiatric unit – where she was placed in 2012 by the Barnetts.
But in 2013, Natalia was discharged from psychiatric care and the Barnetts decided they were no longer willing to look after someone they claim they believed was an adult.
They furnished and paid rent for an apartment in Lafayette, Indiana where Natalia lived alone for a year, until she told police she had been abandoned by her parents in 2014.
Kristine and Michael will appear in court next year
Kristine and Michael divorced in 2014, but were taken to court earlier in 2019 accused of neglect by abandoning a child in 2013.
A trial date has been set for 28 January 2020 and after speaking to several news sources this year, have been issued with a gag order – which stops them speaking to the media about the case or Natalia.”
Natalia Grace Barnett: ‘I’m 16, not a 33-year-old scam artist’
[BBC 11/8/19]
“The attorney for a man accused of abandoning his adopted under-aged daughter hopes to get charges dropped this week.
Michael Barnett faces neglect charges after investigators claim he abandoned his adopted daughter Natalia Grace.
The case made national headlines.
Barnett’s attorney, Terrance Kinnard, motioned to dismiss six of the eight neglect charges against his client filed by the Tippecanoe County Prosecutor.
Kinnard argues Natalia pretended to be a child when he and his then ex-wife adopted her.
But a judge ruled the former couple can’t face neglect of a dependent charges when a previous judge ruled in court changing Natalia’s minor age to an adult age based on her year of birth.
The same six neglect charges have already been dropped against the ex-wife Christine Barnett.
Kinnard has insisted all along that his client and ex-wife are victims of an elaborate adoption scam that has left them emotionally scarred for life.
“Removing the first six was a major milestone for us because we believe based on well-founded case law and statues that are in existence today, as well as when this case started nine years ago, we believe those were in favor of us,” Kinnard said.
The motion to dismiss hearing is Friday in Tippecanoe County, where the two remaining charges accused them of neglecting a person with a medical need.
Kinnard shared that the attorneys for Christine Barnett have worked non-stop on the case. Both will now focus on fighting the remaining two charges.
Natalia Grace has denied any wrongdoing and insists she was a child when the couple adopted her more than nine years ago. ”
Hearing for motion to dismiss charges in adoption scam case Friday
[WTHR 8/19/2020 by Steve Jefferson]
“Neglect of a dependent charges against Michael Barnett based on prosecutors’ assertion that his adopted daughter, Natalia, is a minor are dismissed, according to an order published Tuesday.
But if prosecutors want to continue with the neglect charges based on allegations the Barnetts had a legal obligation to care for Natalia because of her severe dwarfism, they may, according to the order from Tippecanoe Superior 2 Judge Steve Meyer.
Meyer’s order also outright dismissed three counts of neglect, ruling that too much time has lapsed between the allegations and the filing of charges, citing statute of limitation laws.
Meyer’s order published Tuesday mirrors the one he published Aug. 14 for Michael Barnett’s ex-wife, Kristine Barnett, who faces identical charges on the same allegations.
Prosecutors charged the Barnetts on Sept. 11, 2019, with two counts of neglect of a dependent, saying the Westfield couple abandoned Natalia Grace, a Ukrainian orphan with severe dwarfism, in Lafayette in July 2013. The Barnetts then moved to Canada with their two biological sons.
Prosecutors added four more charges of neglect in December for not getting Natalia the surgeries she needed to correct the pain caused by her severe dwarfism.
Meyer’s order dismissed any of the charges that are based on Natalia being a minor because, in June 2012, the Barnetts had Natalia’s birth record based on her Ukrainian documents legally changed.[what does that have to do with Natalia’s age?]
Natalia’s record indicated that she was born in September 2003. But the Barnetts —via a Marion Superior Court order — changed Natalia’s birth record to September 1989, making her 22 — almost 23 — in June 2012. Therefore, Natalia legally was an adult when the Barnetts left her at an apartment on … in Lafayette in July 2013 and moved to Canada.
The Barnetts claim they were scammed by Natalia and the adoption agency.[oh please!]
They believed she was 4 when they adopted her in the spring of 2008, but both Barnetts said last year during interviews with the media that Natalia showed signs of being an adult.
The Barnetts also claimed that Natalia tried to harm Kristine and their biological sons. They claimed that getting her birth year changed was an attempt to get her mental health treatment and to closer align her age with what they believed to be accurate.
Natalia, who appeared last November on “Dr. Phil,” a nationally syndicated TV show, said she was a teenager, not an adult.
A gag order issued in October bars the parties to the cases from publicly commenting on the facts or merits of the case. However, information gleaned from court records and hearings is fair game.
Meyer’s order Tuesday indicated he was not persuaded by prosecutors’ arguments during last week’s hearing that the Marion County court did not have jurisdiction to change a Hamilton County Superior Court order.
Based on her disputed birth records, Natalia either turns 17 later this week, if one believes the original records, or she turns 31, based on the Marion County court ruling.
Meyer cited a legal doctrine that bars a court from re-litigating a settled issue and that Natalia’s age is a settled legal issue. The doctrine applies to courts of the same level, such as superior courts.
That doctrine does not bar a higher court from reversing Meyer’s ruling or overturning the Marion County court’s ruling.
At last week’s hearing for Michael Barnett’s motion to dismiss, prosecutors and Michael Barnett’s attorney, Terrance Kinnard, indicated that they planned to appeal Meyer’s ruling to a higher court if it did not favor their arguments.
Prosecutors want jurors to decide what Natalia’s age is and how it relates to the neglect charges.
Tippecanoe County Deputy Prosecutor Jackie Starbuck said last week they tracked down Natalia’s birth mother, Anna Gava, in Ukraine, and confirmed the biological relationship through DNA. Prosecutors are prepared to prove that Natalia was born in 2003 and put up for adoption the day after her birth.”
Neglect charges dismissed against Michael Barnett, judge rules adopted daughter Natalia legally an adult
[Lafayette Journal and Courier 9/1/2020 by Ron Wilkins]
A search of Indiana’s records shows that on 5/26/21 the Appellate Court’s Request for Transcript was e-filed.
Update 8: A search of Indiana’s records shows that a pretrial conference will take place on 9/16/22.
“Kristine Barnett always wanted a big family. Though she and Michael had biological children, including their son Jake, an autistic child prodigy, they hoped to expand their family through adoption.
As such, both were thrilled to hear that an adoption agency in Florida had a little girl in need of a home in May 2010. Within 24 hours, they flew from Indiana to Florida and met Natalia Grace for the first time, immediately accepting her into their family.
According to Kristine, she could tell that Natalia Grace would need extra care. The girl suffered from spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia, a rare form of dwarfism. But having worked with Jake and run a children’s daycare, Kristine felt up to the challenge.”
“DailyMailTV found a woman claiming to be Natalia Barnett’s birth mother in Ukraine in October 2019.
The woman, Anna Volodymyrivna Gava, told DailyMailTV that Natalia really is a child. Gava said she was forced to give up her daughter after her birth in 2003.
Through a translator from her home in Ukraine, Gava said: “I know exactly how old she is. This girl is my daughter who was born 16 years ago. Doctors told me to leave the baby: ‘Leave her, don’t ruin your life,’ they said. Both them and my mom told me to leave her. They said the baby would never be good, that she would never be able to move, that she would be chained to a chair or to a bed.”
She continued, “She now lives in America with adoptive parents who want to ditch her. I thought everything was okay with her and it turned out that it’s not all okay.”
DailyMailTV added that reporters also saw a document from an orphanage where Natalia was supposedly taken in that suggested she was a baby in 2003. However, reporters were not permitted to take photos of this document.”
The Story Of Natalia Barnett, The ‘Six-Year-Old’ Adoptee Who May Have Been An Adult Dwarf In Disguise
[All that’s interesting 7/25/22 by Marco Margaritoff]
Update 9: Michael Barnett trial has been postponed to October 24, 2022.
“Michael Barnett’s new trial date bumps Kristine Barnett’s day in court, but her new trial date has not yet been set.
The reason for the delay in Michael Barnett’s trial is because defense attorneys have not been able to take depositions from everyone on the state’s lengthy witness list.
Terrance Kinnard, Michael Barnett’s attorney, told the court they have only been able to depose four of the state’s 28 witnesses, but nine witnesses are scheduled for deposition on Friday.
During Wednesday’s pretrial hearing, the court also addressed the prosecutor’s suspicions that Michael Barnett violated the court’s gag order by negotiating with Hulu for his media rights for its production about the Barnett’s case.
Tippecanoe County Deputy Prosecutor Jackie Starbuck filed Monday for Kinnard and Michael Barnett to produce any documents related to the negotiations with Hulu. Kinnard and Barnett have not yet filed a response to prosecutors’ request.
Tippecanoe Superior 2 Judge Steve Meyer told Starbuck to gather the evidence of an alleged violation of the gag order before bringing it before the court. Starbuck indicated she was in the process of doing just that.
Michael Barnett and Kristine Barnett, faced eight charges of neglect of a dependent on allegations that they abandoned their adopted daughter, Natalia Grace, in Lafayette in June 2012 and then moved to Canada with their biological sons.
Based on Natalia’s birth records from Ukraine, she was born in September 2003, which would have made her not quite 9 years old when she was left in Lafayette.
But the Barnetts have said they were defrauded during the adoption of Natalia.
They believed Natalia was an adult when they adopted her in the spring of 2008, not a 4-year-old girl. Before a gag order was imposed, the Barnetts each told other news outlets that Natalia had pubic hair and menstrual cycles, and made threats to kill the Barnetts and their three sons.
In a November 2019 episode of Dr. Phil, Natalia denied being an adult.
In 2010, the Barnetts petitioned a Marion County court to change Natalia’s birth year from 2003 to 1989. That petition was granted.
Because Tippecanoe County prosecutors cannot get another court to undo the re-aging order, Natalia turns — in the eyes of the law — 33 years old early next month.
During Wednesday’s hearing, Kinnard, Starbuck and the court discussed whether Natalia could be described to jurors as an adult.
Calling Natalia an adult is problematic, Starbuck argued, since some of the doctors will have to curtail their testimony that might indicate that Natalia’s condition in 2012 was that of a child, not a 22-year-old, as per her re-aging order.
“We want the jury to know that person is an adult,” Kinnard said during the pretrial hearing, explaining part of his defense was to show that Natalia was an adult able to get around and function in society.
“We are not going to be talking about age,” Meyer said during the various age-related discussions about what jurors can and cannot hear from the attorneys and the witnesses.
Natalia can be referred to as a person and may refer to her court-ordered age in 2012.
Michael Barnett’s new pretrial hearing is scheduled for Sept. 12 — the date his trial was supposed to begin.”
Trial dates postponed for adoptive parents accused of neglecting Ukrainian-born girl
[Journal & Courier8/17/22 by Ron Wilkins]
Update 10: “A jury found Michael Barnett, who had been accused of abandoning his adopted daughter, not guilty Thursday.
Barnett and his ex-wife, Kristine, had been facing a series of neglect charges.
The former couple was charged in 2019 with neglect of a dependent for allegedly leaving their daughter, Natalia, in an apartment. They adopted the girl in 2010.
Michael and Kristine said they weren’t guilty of child neglect and that Natalia was lying about how old she was.
Their attorney argued that the 8-year-old girl they adopted was actually a young-looking adult woman with a form of dwarfism.
“Through a series of scientific and medical tests, it was determined that this person was not a minor child at 6 years of age but may have been as old as 20 to 22 years of age,” the attorney said in a 2019 interview.
Kristine Barnett is facing trial in February of next year.
Natalia Barnett claims she was abandoned in a Tippecanoe County apartment when she was 8 years old.
Natalia and her new adoptive parents defended accusations that she pretended to be a little girl to get adopted.”
Michael Barnett found not guilty of abandoning adopted daughter in Tippecanoe County
[WTHR 10/27/22]
Update 11:Kristine’s charges were dropped in March 2023. “Ukranian dwarf Natalia Grace could be set to sue her adoptive parents to combat their claims that she was a homicidal adult posing as a six-year-old.
Her adoptive parents, Michael and Kristine Barnett, have been cleared of criminally neglecting her when they abandoned her and moved to Canada. The couple also legally changed her age to 23 overnight.
However, there are now fresh claims that may prove Natalia was a minor at the time. And prosecutor Beth Karas told DailyMail.com said she is ‘exploring’ legal action against the Barnetts and she has a ‘good chance of success’.
‘(Because of) the effect the re-aging had on her, she was denied an education, she says ‘my childhood was taken away from me,” Karas said, adding that the action may also see Natalia seek to re-age herself back to her original birthdate of September 2003.
‘If she can bring a case, it would look pretty good for her,’ Karas said.
Natalia confronts her adoptive parents in upcoming series The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: Natalia Speaks, which premieres across three consecutive nights on ID beginning Monday, January 1, airing nightly from 9-11PM ET/PT.
The series also promises to finally reveal exactly how old Natalia really is through sophisticated DNA testing.
Karas, who also appears in the series, said she is ‘pretty confident that people will conclude what her age is, probably after two episodes’.
The strange saga of Natalia Grace began shortly after her adoption by the Barnetts in 2010 in Florida via a Ukrainian adoption center. Shortly after being adopted, the family claims she displayed violent, disturbing and erratic behavior, including threatening to kill them by looming over their bed with a knife and poisoning Kristine’s coffee.
Natalia Grace has never been charged with a crime.
The Barnetts had her legally re-aged in 2012 and fled to Canada, they say for their lives, while leaving Natalia in an ill-suited apartment in Lafayette, Indiana.
When they were charged with neglect for leaving her in the apartment, her legal re-aging meant Michael and Kristine were only charged with neglect of a dependent instead of a child.
Michael was acquitted at trial in October 2022, and charges against Kristine were dropped before trial in March 2023.
But the adoptee has spoken out against her former family for the outlandish allegations against her, which also included trying to drag Kristine into an electric wire fence.
In an early look at the upcoming show, Natalia confronted Michael and sternly said: ‘I was never in y’all’s room with a knife.’
‘In every lie is a hidden truth, but you’ve got to dig enough to be able to see it,’ she said. ‘They’re not going to get away with this. This is my side of the story, do I look like a monster to you?’
While Karas said the Barnetts are safe from a criminal perspective after their charges were dismissed ‘with prejudice’, they could now face a civil lawsuit from Natalia as she ‘explores’ legal action against them.
‘The burden of proof is much lower,’ Karas said of Natalia’s chances of success. ‘It’s not proof beyond a reasonable doubt, it’s a preponderance of the evidence more likely than not that this happened.’
The legal expert said her case could be strengthened thanks to new perspectives seen in the upcoming series from people who ‘couldn’t talk before’, including Natalia, the lead prosecutor in Michael’s trial, and an investigator.
Karas pointed to Natalia’s legal age change in 2012 as the ‘defining moment’ in her case, and speculated that the Barnetts may have had ulterior motives in their decision to seek her re-aging.
The former prosecutor previously told DailyMail.com that the legal process used immediately made her feel that ‘something just wasn’t right about this case’.
She said Natalia was never represented in court and was left uninformed over the process, which she argued should raise doubt over its accuracy.
‘(It was) based on that affidavit alone, without any witnesses or hearing, Natalia did not have any guardian or anybody in court representing her, she was totally in the dark,’ she said.
Karas now claims that after further review of the re-aging process, a ‘fraud was perpetrated on the court’, arguing that the court ‘didn’t have all the information about her age’ while the Barnetts withheld information.
One particularly striking allegation of this, detailed in the upcoming season, comes from a bombshell report from a doctor named only as ‘Dr Riggs’, who examined Natalia shortly after her adoption in June 2010.
Riggs established that the child was between six and eight years old, and a skeletal survey two years later at the same hospital then also determined that she was around 11.
Court records filed by prosecutors claimed Barnett acknowledged in an interview that he knew Natalia was a minor, before he moved his family to Canada in 2013 and leaving her alone in an apartment in Lafayette, Indiana.
Barnett’s attorney denies he ever made such an admission.
Karas said the Barnett’s re-aging was ‘always suspicious to me, continuing: ‘But it became more egregious than ever, and if I were the judge in that, knowing what we know now, I would not be happy.’
While the Barnetts claimed they moved her out of fear for their family’s safety, Karas said their case could have also been motivated by a desire to avoid paying for Natalia’s mounting expenses.
‘We know that Natalia needed a lot more medical attention and surgeries that perhaps the Barnetts were not aware of when they first got her,’ she said.
‘She was going to be financial drain. Not everything would be covered by insurance,’ she added, noting that Kristine may have been hesitant to spend money generated from her bestselling book ‘The Spark: A Mother’s Story of Nurturing, Genius, and Autism’, about their gifted autistic son Jacob.
‘It looks like she had various plans to get rid of Natalia, either by having her psychiatrically committed, criminally charged or re-aged, and get her out of their lives.’
The Barnett’s previously made their case on ID’s initial series, The Curious Case of Natalia Grace, where they detailed their growing suspicions over the new addition to their family almost as soon as they welcomed her in 2010.
This included a trip to Disney World, where Kristine claims she was stunned to discover Natalia, who they believed to be six at the time, had ‘full pubic hair’ while giving her a bath.
In the months after that, the couple allege that there was ‘a lot of escalation’. This included claims she had been hiding her period from them for months.
As the months wore on, Michael claimed it became apparent they were living with a menace, to the point she ‘threatened to stab’ her new siblings.
‘She would do as much as possible to cause hurt or harm or mental distress to the entire family,’ Michael said.
‘She tried to poison and kill my wife,’ he claimed. ‘(And) one night, I opened my eyes and Natalia is standing at the foot of the bed with a knife in her hand.’
Natalia said seeing these claims go unchecked in the show was ‘shocking’ and ‘frustrating’, and urged people to wait to hear her side of the claims before passing judgement.
‘It’s very frustrating to hear everything that’s being said from Kristine and Michael because I already don’t know who I am, and I want to know who I am, what happened to me,’ she said in an early look at the upcoming show.
‘But I’m hearing all this stuff that never actually happened from Kristine and Michael… And people are believing what Kristine and Michael are saying without even hearing my side.
‘This is my side of the story, and I’m gonna say what happened because I never got a chance to say what happened. Y’all have heard Kristine and Michael and what they have said, but you need to hear both sides in order to know what really happened.’
The center of Michael Barnett’s case in 2022 was his decision to move Natalia to her own apartment in Indiana shortly before the family moved to Canada.
Later in court, Natalia would testify that sustained herself mostly on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, Ramen Noodles and an occasional pizza. She said she had limited use of her hands and arms, and struggled to open canned food.
It was also claimed that the apartment was not fit for purpose as she was forced to struggle up stairs on a daily basis, and neighbors recalled seeing her wearing dirty clothing, scuffed shoes and stinking of body odor.
Locals added that they were struck by Michael’s occasional presence outside the apartment in sports cars while Natalia was left inside a squalid apartment.
Those near her also described her as a ‘pest’ to the community, where she would enter homes uninvited and even faced allegations of inappropriate behavior with local children. She denied the claims.
Michael said the family left her in Indiana and moved to Canada to support his 15-year-old prodigy son’s time at college. But some of the family’s critics claim the move was motivated by the desire to get rid of Natalia.”
Ukrainian dwarf Natalia Grace may SUE adoptive parents for civil damages – as legal expert says she has a ‘good chance’ of winning big after a ‘fraud was perpetrated on the court’ when she was legally re-aged
[Daily Mail 1/1/24 by Will Potter]
Other things said in Natalia Talks Part 1: A christian pastor is her guardian. Kristine pepper sprayed Natalia for not doing high school math when she was 7. Kristine told her to say that she was 22. The Cicones kept Natalia for 2 years.Natalia claims that when she pushed their son and said “I hate you” to the father, she was re-homed.Adoptions by shepherds Care and Gateway Woods, a Leo, Indiana based adoption agency, were the adoption agencies. An endocrinologist five weeks after adopting Natalia said that her age is 9-11. The DePauls, a little people couple, were supposed to adopt Natalia but things did not go right. The Barnetts had no visits with her before they adopted her.Tridaiagnositc did a test on Natalia on August 14, 2023. Thery say she is now 22 years old.They took her out of school and homeschooled her. She was supposed to get many surgeries, but because they re-aged her, the doctor did not want to perform them. Kristine beat Natalia 3 times and Michael watched!
Update 12: Natalia Speaks Part 2:Kristine said that Natalia had a period early. Not true. Kristine made Natalia wear a tampon, which hurts a lot. Kristine would shove it up there and when she took it out, there was blood due to the injury that she cause Natalia.Kristine hit Natalia with a belt. The “Pledge in the coffee”incident. Not true. Natalia was wiping the counter with pledge. On the counter there was Pledge. Kristine came and SHE put the pledge in her coffee.
In 2012, they placed her in a mental hospital. The Barnetts celebrated that she was finally gone! The mental hospital released her because they said that she was not mentally ill. As she was in the mental hospital ,the Barnett’s changed her age in the courts. When she got out of the hospital she was placed in a halfway house. Two weeks later, the Barnett’s came to pick her up and placed her in the Westfield apartment. When she was in the Westfield apartment for 1 year, Kristine tried to overdose her with 3 doses of the adult medicine that she was taking. That almost killed her. She is now known as Natalia Manns. She will sue the Barnetts.
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