'Adopted Child' Who Turned Out To Be 22-Year-Old Shares Her Side Of Story

Kristine and Michael Barnett adopted Natalia Grace in 2010, believing she was a six-year-old child from Ukraine.

Kristine Barnett

After Natalia joined the family, the dynamics changed, and the couple began to suspect that she was actually an adult trying to harm them and their children. 

In 2013, the Barnett family relocated and left Natalia behind in an apartment in Lafayette, Indiana, leading to charges of neglect against the couple.

The Barnetts argued that they were victims of fraud and maintained their innocence. In 2022, Michael was found not guilty of all charges, while charges against Kristine were dropped this year.

The new documentary presented various claims against Natalia, including allegations that she was pretending to be a child, that she was a sociopath, and that she attempted to poison her adoptive mother.

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Natalia's follow-up documentary, "The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: Natalia Speaks," will provide her perspective and delve into her side of this distressing story.

In a preview of the two-hour documentary special, seen by Entertainment Tonight, Natalia alleged: "The things that Kristine and Michael have said that I have done is a lie.”

"I have never done anything that Kristine and Michael have said that I have done."

Following her ordeal with Kristine and Michael, Natalia has found a new family in Antwon and Cynthia Mans, who have adopted her and assert that she is a teenager.

"You can ask anybody in my family now," she says in the upcoming documentary.

"You can ask Bishop Antwon and Cynthia Mans that - just ask them, 'Has she ever done anything?' They will tell you who I really am. They're not going to lie and neither am I."

She continued: "It's frustrating. It's very frustrating to hear everything that's being said from Kristine and Michael."

"And because I already don't know who I am and I want to know who I am and what happened to me, but I'm hearing all this stuff that never actually happened from Kristine and Michael.”

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"I'm like, 'It's shocking and it's frustrating.' Because that's not even true. And people are believing what Kristine and Michael are saying without even hearing my side."

Natalia, who has spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia, a type of dwarfism, underwent a re-aging process in 2012. A judge made the determination that she was actually 22 years old.

As part of the re-aging process, Natalia was issued a new birth certificate, stating her date of birth as September 4, 1989.

Additionally, she received a new Indiana identification (I.D.) card, reflecting the updated information related to her age and identity.

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While Karas says re-aging is ‘not unusual’ with adoption, she says Natalia’s new age still doesn’t quite ‘make sense’ to her.

“It does happen in international adoptions,” she continues.

“A couple of years might be shaved off the age of the child because it’s more attractive to adoptive families, the younger the child is. At least, that’s the belief.”

"So, all I can buy are a couple of years, right? Like, she’s not really eight, she’s 10 or 11 or something. But to jump 14 years to 22? It doesn’t make sense.”