Biological Mum Of 'Child' Natalia Grace Who Turned Out To Be 22-Year-Old Woman Reveals Her Real Age

Natalia Grace the Ukrainian girl who found herself at the center of a captivating adoption tale. 

Credit: Investigation Discovery

In 2010, Michael and Kristine Barnett welcomed her into their lives, believing she was a six-year-old child grappling with a rare bone growth disorder.

But as time unfolded, a startling revelation emerged—Natalia possessed a unique form of dwarfism known as spondyloepiphyseal and was not the child they thought she was.

A judge's ruling shattered their illusions, declaring Natalia to be a 22-year-old woman, forever altering the course of this bewildering saga.

The latest Investigation Discovery documentary, "The Curious Case of Natalia Grace," takes us on a gripping exploration featuring interviews with family members, former neighbors, and friends.

Credit: Investigation Discovery

Unraveling the layers of this extraordinary narrative, we discover that Natalia's perplexing journey took an even more astonishing turn in 2012.

The Barnetts, seeking a resolution, filed a motion in Marion County Court to have her age corrected to a more suitable designation, ultimately leading to a mind-bending re-aging decision by a judge.

Legal expert Beth Karas explains in the six-part series: "The judge had a petition prepared by an attorney that would lay out the arguments for why this person is not the age they believe she is – she is actually an adult.

"Nobody knows quite what age, but she has not grown in four years, so the judge came up with his own little formula: 'Well, you stop growing at 18 – if she hasn't grown in four years then she's at least 18 when she entered their lives. And I'm gonna add four years'.

"He said, 'Okay, I find you 22'."

Just when you thought the twists couldn't get any more mind-boggling, the documentary takes an unexpected turn in its fifth episode.

Credit: Investigation Discovery

Natalia's biological mother, Anna Gava, throws us an even greater curveball. As part of a neglect of a dependent case against Michael Barnett and Kristine Barnett, Gava finds herself facing an interview with the police, tasked with providing irrefutable proof of her maternal connection through a DNA test.

But here's where it gets truly astonishing. Three years after confirming their biological relationship, Gava drops a bombshell revelation.

She discloses her own birth year, 1979, before finally divulging the long-awaited date of birth for her daughter.

“She was born on September 4th 2003,” Gava says.

“She was born at 6.25am in the Maternity Hospital No. 1. She is my biological daughter.”

This would place Natalia's age today at 19 years and nine months.

She continues: “They showed her to me."

Credit: Investigation Discovery

“The childbirth was difficult as well, very difficult. When I regained consciousness after anesthesia, the next day the doctor came and said, ‘There is no sense to take her home.’

“They said that she won’t be able to walk at all, and she will be of very short stature. They said a surgery would cost $100,000, and since ‘you don’t have such finances’, you also have an older daughter – I already had Julia at the time and Natasha came after her...

“She brought me a sample of the waiver on the paper, and I had to write five copies of it.

“I didn’t initially want to leave her, but the doctors said there is nothing you could do for her.

“’You are so young,’ they said, ‘You are 24 years old. Don’t ruin your life, you will have other children.’”

Anna admits she feels sad that she ‘listened to the doctors and left her instead of keeping her’.

Unpacking Gava’s comments, Karas says: “Anna Gava was born in 1979, which means she would have been 10 years old if Natalia was born in 1989, as the courts ruled when they re-aged her.

Credit: Investigation Discovery

“So there aren’t a lot of good reasons, besides seeing pubic hair on her, to believe she was born anytime before 2003.”

In the docu-series, viewers witnessed the gripping moment when an investigator successfully tracked down Anna Gava in Ukraine during the year 2020.

At the time, Gava says via a phone call with her sister Tatyana: “It is 17 years, they are all going here and there to me.”

Karas points out that this could indicate Natalia was actually a child when she was adopted after all.

“This woman, Anna Gava, who is supposedly Natalia’s biological mother, just said she’s been going through this saga for 17 years,” she says.

“Well, she said that in 2020 – do the math: that means Natalia may really have been born in 2003, which is what she has said all along.”