The heroine of an adoption case that stunned the world: Who is Natalia Grace?

Then a bombshell claim was brought to the agenda: The family claimed that Natalia was 'an adult who behaved like a child and had bad intentions'.

The Barnetts declared that Natalia was trying to harm them and their biological children. On the other hand, authorized institutions accused the parents of neglecting their disabled daughter.

Was she a child or, as her family put it, an 'adult sociopath'?

This event, which stunned the world, was perhaps one of the strangest stories to hit the headlines.

Natalia Grace Barnett (born September 4, 2003) is a Ukrainian-born American with dwarfism, who, in 2010, was adopted by an American family but abandoned by them two years later. Barnett's adoptive parents claimed that Barnett was a legal adult, and, in 2012, they successfully sought a court order legally changing her birth year from 2003 to 1989. However, through an August 2023 DNA test, the health testing company TruDiagnostic estimated that Grace was about 20 years old, meaning she was around 9 years old when her adoptive parents abandoned her.

This complex story was the subject of a three-part documentary series called 'The Strange Case of Natalia Grace', which aired on Investigation Discovery.

The Barnetts adopted Natalia from an agency in Florida. Michael Barnett says in the documentary that they were given one day to decide and describes the adoption process as follows:

“They said she had dwarfism and gave us 24 hours to sign the papers; Otherwise, they stated that she would go directly to foster care. We adopted Natalia because we wanted to help someone who was in danger of never being loved. Her birth certificate said she was born on September 4, 2003.”

Natalia had spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia. This rare type of dwarfism; It could cause skeletal abnormalities, and vision and hearing problems. She was barely 1 meter tall.

After a while, Barnett's (ex-)wife Kristine noticed that Natalia was on her period and was trying to hide her pads.

“The goal was to look like a poor, helpless little girl,” says Barnett, explaining that Natalia suddenly began exhibiting disturbing behavior, such as urinating in the car and dirtying the windows with feces.

Barnett states in the documentary that his daughter "started collecting knives" and once said to her, "I'm going to kill you in your sleep." She even says that she once woke up to find her daughter standing at the foot of their bed with a knife in her hand. He also accuses Natalia of trying to poison Kristine by pouring cleaning supplies into her coffee, pushing her against an electric fence, and threatening her siblings with a knife, adding:

She was doing everything possible to harm, hurt, or psychologically distress the family.

The Barnett couple, who thought Natalia's birth certificate was fake, appealed to the court.

Kristine Barnett, who did not agree to talk to the documentary producers, stated in her previous statements that bone tests proved that Natalia was older at the time of adoption and that she admitted this while she was being treated in a psychiatric clinic in 2012. And as his ex-wife said in the documentary; She claimed that Natalia Barnett tried to push her against the electric fence, put bleach in her coffee, and tried to stab herself and her husband while they were asleep at night.

In 2012, two years after adopting Natalia, the couple filed an application with the Marion County Probate Court to amend their birth records. The court found that Natalia was born on September 4, 1989, nearly 14 years earlier than she claimed. The court order said she was a 23-year-old adult.

The Barnetts found an apartment for Natalia and paid her rent.

The father, Barnett, was tried on charges of neglecting her dependent.

The Barnett couple, who would soon go through a violent divorce, moved to Canada with their three sons when Natalia's lease ended. Just before that, they moved her into an apartment in Indiana.

Authorities became involved in the incident after Natalia's bills were not paid and her electricity and telephone lines were cut off. Natalia moved in with her neighbor Cynthia Mans' family and was helped by a social worker who liaised with the police.

In 2019, the couple who testified about what happened faced a series of accusations. The authorities reasoned that Natalia was dependent on her family due to her dwarfism, even though she was an adult at the time she was abandoned, and an investigation was launched against the couple. The Barnetts were accused of leaving her alone and abusing her for three years after moving to Canada.

Michael Barnett was charged with neglect of a dependent. However, prosecutors could not accuse the couple of 'child neglect' because Natalia's age was changed by court order.

Natalia continued to say that she was 6 years old when she was adopted.

In a TV program she attended in November 2019, she insisted that she was born in 2003, not 1989. “Are you a 30-year-old hustler?” She answered the question, "No, I'm not, I'm 16 years old." She denied all allegations that she tried to harm or kill the Barnett family.

In court, the judge did not allow the issue of Natalia's age to be raised before the jury. Michael Barnett was found not guilty of all charges in the fall of 2022.