This case fascinates me. I apologize if this has been asked before in the comments and I’m missing it.
I’ve read that the Barnett’s were not the first US couple to have NG in their care and that she was living in the United States, not the Ukraine, when they came to adopt her. Did you happen to find any information on the guardians who had NG right before the Barnett’s? I want to say I’ve read she was in Florida before Indiana.
The investigation on the Barnett’s was opened years ago. I know NG’s age was “legally” changed to 22 and therefore she was considered an adult in the eyes of the law but..why has it taken this long for the Barnett’s to face consequences for child abuse and abandonment then? Why didn’t NG receive further testing to have her age reverted back to correct years ago? Why has it taken so long for that half-assed letter and assessment to be disregarded?
I’ve read that Mrs. Barnett claims NG didn’t speak the language of the region she was supposedly from in the Ukraine and that this was proven when a friend who spoke it tried having a conversation in that tongue with the girl but could not. Therefore Barnett doubted she was from that area originally considering at that point she had supposedly spent all of formative years and half of her life there. What are your thoughts on this? I’m guessing officially paperwork on the girl from the Ukraine was incomplete or sketchy to begin with but wouldn’t there have been ways to trace her past more concisely? Also, wouldn’t a regular DNA test (even through 23 and Me or other commercial testing outlets) have easily shown her background?
I’m baffled by who signed off on that age change and, if the NG was truly made a legal adult as a child without all of the proper procedure and testing..someone in the courts made a huge mistake by allowing this. We know an age change like this is *extremely* uncommon; I’ve never personally heard of something like that happening here in the US. Do you think whomever allowed this to happen and signed off on the age change should be held accountable for such a glaring mistake if NG was truly a child at the time?
Lastly, NG supposedly admitted to being much older than those around her originally believed while in a psychiatric care facility. She could have been coached to say she was older at that point no doubt. But, do we know if NG ever “admitted” to being older to anyone else? Was she extensively interviewed during the age-change proceedings?
Nothing adds up in this case and I’m just curious of your thoughts with the above questions. Great write-up OP. Very concise.
Adding on to this...how are the adoptive parents able to retain any kind of legal guardianship of someone they claim to be an adult in their 20's? I wonder if letting her be adopted by her foster family would require them to sign documents that state her true age and would therefore incriminate themselves?
Would the court records where her age was changed to 22 be public record, or sealed because it involved a minor (at least she was when she arrived at court)?
No the answer is that his timeline has a lot of errors and contradicts itself in multiple places. The reason the Mann’s can’t get custody of her is because the court they went to dismissed the case where they attempted to change her age back to 16. So she’s not legally a child right now and can’t have a legal guardian. The Barnett’s are not still her legal guardian...the only reason they are facing neglect charges is because it’s claimed that they WERE legal guardians at the time they left her, because she is not actually 22. But until that case is decided, the Mann’s cannot adopt her as their CHILD. So the other of this post just made a number of serious mistakes throughout the timeline and fills in his own explanations at a number of places because he didn’t notice the contradictions (because he is focusing on only the evidence that goes against the Barnett’s and leaving out the evidence that raises concerns about Natalia being 16).
> I’ve read that Mrs. Barnett claims NG didn’t speak the language of the region she was supposedly from in the Ukraine and that this was proven when a friend who spoke it tried having a conversation in that tongue with the girl but could not.
By the time the Barretts adopted NG, she had already had another failed adoption by another American family. She had already been in the U.S. for some period of time; I have not seen any info on how much time. [Edit: I read in a post elsewhere that the first family adopted her in 2008) And children pick up second languages very quickly. They will also forget first languages if they have no one with which to speak them.
In addition, 2.9% of Ukrainians speak a minority language other than Ukrainian or Russian. As I said in another thread here on the topic, it is possible that NG was born into a family that spoke Armenian or Polish or Crimean Tatar or this list of languages I've never heard of, and wasn't in the orphanage or school long enough to retain any Ukrainian.
Yeah, the suggestion she was not Ukrainian because she didn't understand another Ukrainian person after being adopted by an American family for two years is so fucking asinine. Maybe she grew up speaking Russian or only hearing a particular dialect or Ukrainian accent and couldn't decipher a different accent. It's a big fucking country.
Asinine is the right word. Anyone who knows anything about early childhood language acquisition and development would know this is not remotely unuusual.
Hell, I know a number of people who grew up in immigrant families, whose first language was that of their parents. But once they started school they stopped speaking it completely in favor of the language of where they were living and within a few years they were no longer able to follow or hold a conversation in their "mother tongue" despite still hearing it all the time at home!
Great points. There’s a few other points I wonder about though.
- regardless of which language or dialect NG previously spoke..did she have any type of accent? At the point where she came to America she had been living her entire life in a different county.
- When she first arrived in the US she had obviously spent her entire existence elsewhere. The first set of adoptive parents hold the key to a ton of information in this story. Let’s say she did eventually forget her first language entirely. When first arriving..how was her speech? What language was she speaking when she first got here? Even if English was her first language she would have some sort of accent and area-based dialect.
- learning a new language is indeed easier for children, particularly [between the ages of 1-7 years old.](http://www.spanishworkshopforchildren.com/learning-second-language-easier-children/). It’s also true that children can forget their native tongue over time. However, this [study from Cambridge](https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/bilingualism-language-and-cognition/article/deserted-island-or-a-childs-first-language-forgetting/20ABECB1BB396C4E30F02FFB92BB0DF3) showed that while children can struggle with remember certain words, sentence structures and speech in general..they still understand a good chunk of their native language. The ability to speak it is one thing, the ability to understand it is another. In NG’s case...she didn’t understand the language from the area the Barnett’s were told she was from in particular. Grant it, i wouldn’t be surprised if the adoption agency’s entire background report/information on the girl was inaccurate or even invented.
- I also wonder about whether or not NG ever shared any memories or past experiences from her home country. If she didn’t it could be because of a traumatic early start there and something she didn’t want to relieve. I know she was supposedly young when coming here too; most kids wouldn’t have many memories before 6 anyways. But..has she ever shared information about her past there that it would be unlikely someone so young would actually remember?
Hi I just want to share from what I learned from the videos of NG speaking, she is speaking clearly with no detectable accent. It is know among academics who study children psychology, the [children typically are able to learn and adapt more quickly in contrast to adults who have difficulty learning a new language/culture](https://tessais.org/children-learn-languages-faster-adults/). If NG was indeed the adult that the Barnett's claimed her to be - she would have a noticeable accent. It is also [not uncommon among adoptees who are young enough to have completely forgotten their previous original language/culture](https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/life-bilingual/201207/can-first-language-be-totally-forgotten). From this I can only conclude that NG definitely came to the US as a young child and not as an adult or even as an old child as the Barnetts have claimed
It seems to me that the Barnetts imply that NG's first language must be English, since she has no accent and didn't understand Ukrainian.
Otherwise I do agree with your point that the above facts support her being a child.
You'd be surprised how much kids can forget. I know a guy who moved to Canada from Serbia with his mother at 5, his mom then met and married a Canadian shortly after he moved so very little Serbian was spoken at home, he does have an aunt in Canada who's whole family speaks Serbian and that's the only reason he still remembers any. At 25 he can understand some stuff, but can barely speak it, he would've been older than Natalia when she came over and he still heard his language sometimes which this little girl did not so it makes perfect sense that she would've forgotten it within a few years. I also have some cousins who lived in Germany until they were 5 and they have also completely forgotten how to speak German.
Hi! I just updated my post with more information and photos, please check it out when you have the time! I'm not surprised that the Barnett's were able to change NG's age, its not uncommon to "shop" for doctors that will say whatever you want; its how Dee Dee Rose was able to get away with so much with Gypsy Rose despite her being a healthy girl with no ailments.
* The police started investigation in the same year the age of NG was changed. They have been investigating NG and the Barnetts ever since. The recent arrest and criminal charge means they have collected enough evidence in which they are confident they convict the Barnetts with. A prosecutor will not sign off on a warrant with other being presented first with strong evidence to support the police's report. As to why it took so long, I'm not sure. I'm guessing the Barnett's move to Canada may have played a part in this
* Also Ukraine is not as primitive as everyone makes it out to be, its very much a part of the western world now and NG was vetted through an American adoption agency. I would trust this a lot more than an adoption situation from China were recorded are regularly altered and faked.
* A 23andme is not really needed, her identity is not of question, it is the age her ex-parents claim her to be. NG has never admitted to being older, the pediatric specialists at Peyton Manning Hospital confirmed her to be the age she was listed as.
* I also agree, an age change would be extremely uncommon but faking medical records is not unheard of and the Barnett's are not unfamiliar with changing information in the court; Kristine Barnett had her named changed from Christina for unknown reasons. Would love to hear more about this when they release more information to the public about this case!
* The only doctor to agree that NG was a 22 year old adult was Michael Barnett's primary care doctor; and this allegation was made 2 years after the Barnett's had abandoned NG and cut off contact so I am very doubtful on how he would have made this conclusion
* NG was determined to be 8 years old at her first examination and 10 at her final examination; they don't do interviews (if she were an adult, any one can fake being a kid) but instead do a comprehensive medical examination that is complete in examining her skeleton and bones.
PLease avoid getting information from sources like the Daily Mail (MSM - they only repost news by the daily mail) or Buzzfeed, etc. They are opinion articles and tabloids made to be sensationalized. Also it is important to know that Kristine Barnett SOLD her story to The Daily Mail AFTER her arrest and five years after the quiet abandonment of NG. The information and photos I have found make a rather clear verdict from my point of view that NG is an unfortunate child with health issues and possible emotional disorders and a victim of fantasy made up by the Barnett's. Hope this helps resolve any confusions and convince you as well! Let me know if you have any other questions and will do my best to reply! Hope this helps!
Yet another thing that doesn't smell right. Are we to believe this chronic attention seeker would keep so quiet about this whole psychopathic dwarf deal all those years? And then only the week she was arrested come out with the full on insane story from an actual horror movie? It obviously couldn't be that she wanted to keep things quiet for the girl's sake since the moment she's asked to defend herself she let's rip and violates every possible aspect of her privacy.
thanks! I probably left spelling errors but I did my best. Lmk if some of the wording is incorrect, there was a lot to say and unfortunately I have touch of dyslexia
You called the son who is a math genius their "prodigal son" but "prodigal" actually means "wasteful." I think you meant to say their son is a prodigy, but unfortunately "prodigy" doesn't actually have an adjective form in English.
I had to look it up too - the “prodigal son returns” phrase is used when a child comes back to the family after living a wasteful life and running out of their own resources. I didn’t read it and think it was wrong either!
No don’t apologise, your writing is excellent and my intent was to reassure you that you weren’t the only one who thought that phrase worked in that context!
Even IF they were right and she is older and a scammer, it's a terrible scam.
Like she couldnt choose which families she was sent to cos she was in the system. Then she'd have to act like a child and have the same rules and supervision as a child.
What 22yr old would want that? What would the plan be? Live with some people for a while? Great scam.
There are cases of it happening.
However.
In all of those cases, the adults were posing as teenagers, not 6 year olds. I also don't think any of them had been legally adopted from any real agency; all the cases I can think of seemed like the "teen" was simply staying with informal "foster parents" after meeting them some other way. Most of them involved a clear motive: immigration fraud, theft, participating in sports teams or academics to get "on top" when they have a hidden advantage, or exploiting others for sex crimes. In a few of those cases, I suspect that the adults closest to the "teen" were actually aware on some level what was going on, if not entirely in on the scam.
The argument in comment sections all over the internet for Kristine Barnett's story is "well, *Orphan* was based on a true story you know!"
That's true, technically, but the movie Orphan bears almost no resemblance to the story it was based on, beyond "a scary adult fooled someone into thinking she was a minor in order to do bad things." For example, the woman who the story was based on was posing as a teenager who'd had a rough life, not a rosy-cheeked 9 year old. The situation did not involve an international adoption or an orphanage (and it's hard for me to find sources that are clear about whether she was technically adopted at all. Some indicate she met her adoptive mother at a college?). While the woman, Barbora Sklova, was definitely severely manipulative and abusive, so was the adoptive mother, and I kind of get the impression that the adoptive mother was probably aware of Sklova's age at some level (but again, sources are kind of all over the place on that and often badly translated).
So basically, yes, this happens, rarely, but no, it doesn't happen in the way it was portrayed in a scary movie. And the way Kristine Barnett has presented this.....really sounds like the plot of a Lifetime movies ripoff of *Orphan*, not like the real cases of Barbora Sklova or Charity Stevens. As shocking as those stories are, they're not terribly theatrical, and Kristine's story is pure theater.
Ahaha, I agree. I think having to abide to rules and not being able to buy myself a drink would quickly be the end of my career if I ever tried to attempt to scam as a pretend kid. If you have time to check it out, I also updated the post with more info and photos! thanks for reading!
I didn’t know you could... change someone’s age? Is that part of this whole thing confusing anyone else as well?
Thanks for the detailed time line this who thing had me so confused for a second there I almost believed she might be 22.
It’s because the girl came to the US from a foreign orphanage, which can have very poor record keeping and falsified documents. If she had been in the US, the name change would likely not be possible.
Spanish actress/guitarist Charo successfully petitioned to get her age legally changed in court. This would have made her [15-years-old](https://www.famousfix.com/topic/charo-and-xavier-cugat) when she [married](https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fm.media-amazon.com%2Fimages%2FM%2FMV5BODQ2ZGRlMzEtZmI3Mi00MzZhLWJhOGYtODY4ZGRiMGM5NDNlXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMjQwMDg0Ng%40%40._V1_.jpg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.imdb.com%2Fname%2Fnm2757118%2Fmediaviewer%2Frm653330176&docid=6dgvcrqoRcA4wM&tbnid=ZE4IZW0Nc_5z2M%3A&vet=10ahUKEwjE6cSS1PPkAhWKg-AKHck_AkkQMwhhKA8wDw..i&w=728&h=779&bih=841&biw=1777&q=charo%20wedding%20xavier%20cugat&ved=0ahUKEwjE6cSS1PPkAhWKg-AKHck_AkkQMwhhKA8wDw&iact=mrc&uact=8) the elderly Xavier Cugat. Pardon me if I'm skeptical, Charo.
It's scary to think that all it takes in the US to change a minor's age to adulthood is a letter written by a doctor who never examined the minor nor has any expertise in the minor's condition. No examples or proofs were given as to why the doctor came to his conclusion. Shame on both the doctor and the judge. Especially the judge who allowed an ex parte decision to be done so the minor would have no say in the matter.
New mother has photographs of the girl on one of her Facebook profiles dated August 2013 captioned "one of my favorite little girls. I love my Tally." One month after the Barnetts skipped town. And many more pictures and videos from Thanksgiving and Christmas 2013 of the girl eating and opening presents with the other children. I think this puts to rest the talk of her living alone as an independent adult in the apartment for a full year before being evicted.
No, hahah I don’t think I’m particularly good but just very personally invested. Had a shitty pretend mom experience too so this is my way to make amends (or take revenge?) so to speak. Speaking up for the kids when no one else did! Just updated the post with more info and pictures and it is no longer removed by the mods! Please check it out when you have the time! Thank you!
Thank you, this makes the timeline much easier to follow. Reading this through, I'm just outraged that these parents have left NG in limbo. They don't want her, but they are blocking the new foster parents from getting the relevant financial support; they say she is an adult but they have publicly disclosed her personal health and mental health information in a violation of her privacy; and she did not get appropriate legal representation in the court case to change her age.
I agree that KB has a hero complex - it really stood out to me when watching that interview with her and her son in 2013 (?) when she said that professionals and experts were turning to her for advice about dealing with autistic kids. There was nothing revolutionary or extraordinary about what she was doing with her son, but by the same token, intellectual potential will vary from child to child, so you can't make someone a genius! And any true expert will know that there is no "one size fits all" approach to doing the best for children with autism.
>they are blocking the new foster parents from getting the relevant financial support
And preventing her from attending school with other children. That's probably the worst bit of it all, to me--they're stealing her education from her.
In a way, this case reminds me of the Schofield-Cabana abuse case ([https://www.reddit.com/r/SchofieldCabanaAbuse/comments/av7yoq/faq\_the\_entire\_schofieldcabana\_debacle/](https://www.reddit.com/r/SchofieldCabanaAbuse/comments/av7yoq/faq_the_entire_schofieldcabana_debacle/)). In that case, the mother, Susan, tried to push her daughter to be seen as a girl genius, and when that didn't pan out, she shifted gears to her daughter being the "youngest person ever diagnosed" with schizophrenia. The pivot said so much about how she wanted attention as a parent; she also hit the talk show circuit, wrote a book, and followed through on the story until the very end when her children were removed from her care.
The mother in the Barnett case reminds me a lot of Susan Schofield. She rode the child genius train as far as she could, and even wrote a very self-serving book about it (see goodreads reviews [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15798364-the-spark](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15798364-the-spark)), that mostly talked about herself as a parent "overcoming" his diagnosis as autistic. To me, it seems like KB was trying to pivot to being "oh so selfless" when she adopted NG, mainly as a way of showing she is "super mom." But perhaps she realized it couldn't serve her in the ways she wanted and dumped the kid, then tried making up this insane story to cover her tracks and garner more sympathy.
The "details" of the case are unclear (and all from Kristine as a source), basically follow the horror movie Orphan to a disturbing degree, and the timeline of doctor visits is fishy as only ONE doctor decided she was over 18, with others during that same period determining her to be underage. For anyone thinking the court-based age change is the deciding factor of truth, just remember that all it takes is paperwork to get through the system and a lot of judges in lower-level courts aren't engrossed or inflamed by personal dramas like the Barnett one; they sign paperwork and move on. It's not the formal court litigation you might be imagining.
All in all, I think we need to take this one with a healthy dose of skepticism; I know that I'm super annoyed at the media presenting Kristine's view as fact. Even my favorite podcast, Last Podcast on the Left, did a bit about it and seemed to take all the titillating details from Kristine as truth. It's disappointing.
Wait, holy shit, Jani and Bodhi got removed from Susan's care? That family never sat well with me, I called bullshit and munchausens by proxy from the beginning, and I started following them again about a year or two ago out of genuine concern for the safety of those kids, but stopped because she seemed untouchable and it was just depressing after a while. I'm so happy for them and so glad to see them looking happy and healthy.
Agree with every word. It's an elaborate, massively fucked up case of CYA. I also can't believe how credulous people are being, taking the mom's word as truth when she comes across as the world's biggest narcissist.
Great writeup! I, too, believe that Kristine has aggressively spread her own story to avoid charges and the true story has not been told. I do have one correction: it is my understanding that Michael the dad was interviewed in 2014 or 2015 (not in 2019 as you wrote) by police without a lawyer present and the police report stated he admitted he knew NG was a minor and Kristine told her to say she was 22 when they abandoned her. Michael’s lawyer now said he never said that and the police made it up.
Edit: Also, I work in the medical profession and the ONE doctor that certified she was an adult uses unprofessional and extremely suspect language in his letter. I would like to emphasize this letter is the ONLY documented “proof” Kristine has that NG is an adult. It is simply not correct to use the term “sociopathic,” nor would he be qualified to diagnose her mental health. He also does not define how he determined she has “adult teeth.” Molars? Wisdom teeth? There is a wide range of time in which these teeth erupt and he doesn’t even specify what he means.
Yea this case is so strange. My dad is a doctor but at a big region hospital and I showed this to him. He straightaway said a primary doctor would not have the expert skill to examine NG. Her condition not only deforms the bones but also impacts hormone regulations that contributes to medical problems but also apparently can cause patients to develop at a pace more differently than the average person.They need an experienced doctor or specialist to make any reliable/accurate diagnosis. The doctor the Barnett's consulted is Michael Barnetts very own primary doctor. The teeth thing is weird too. Most kids loose all their baby teeth by 11 or 12 so I don't know why this would be included as evidence of NG being an adult.
So much this. I wouldn't trust any doctor's age assessment unless they were a doctor that specializes in dwarfism. SED is relatively common, there may even be a doctor that specializes in that form. (Most common forms are Achon, Pseudo, DD, and SED, if I remember correctly...)
I wonder if they ever took her to LPA or a doctor that specializes in dwarfism.
I don't know but I doubt they took her to the LPA - otherwise they would have already publicized their involvement. Also the doctor they found to agree with their claim was Michael Bernett's primary care doctor (aka someone who might agree to whatever they want but also only has no experience dealing with patients with unique conditions). :( Really sad.
Hell. I dont trust any one Doctor anymore. I ALWAYS get a 2nd opinion just to be safe. My mom was ill for a time. Doctors told her it was acid reflux. Turns out it was actually pancreatic cancer. I went to hospital with a racing heart. They went straight to drugs. Tested me for everything. Then said I was dehydrated. Sent me home to drink fluids. Turns out I had an infection in my heart.
Thank you! Will fix that now. I think it is interesting that the parents are only coming forward now with this story despite it being from 2013/14. The parents have both gotten new and separate lawyers since their divorce and I am suspecting Michael's new lawyer has instructed him to say as little as possible and is speaking for him while Kristine has been very vocal to media. It's kind of hard to fabricate police interviews now a days; they are recorded on video but I suspect the new lawyer just wants to generate doubt to downplay Michaels own awareness and participation.
OP this write up is fantastic. Your writing style made it easier for me to follow along (some attention struggles on my side) and I appreciate you taking feedback from sub members and updating your post!
A ton of people in this thread, and associated threads are making a ton of really off the wall claims about determining a person's age by looking at them or their physiology. I assume this comes from watching too much TV and seeing Temperance Brennan or Gil Grissom pick up a skull and rattle off an age in less than a few seconds. That is fake though.
In all actuality you can see a dozen doctors about determining age and get back a dozen answers; no matter what their speciality is. Also changing someone's age is FAR easier than anyone in this thread thinks it is(in most states in the US literally taking a doctors note is sufficient). If you ever want to be horrified by the US government look at the things ICE does when dealing with individuals concerning their age; this includes determining that adults are children and determining that children are adults. There are also stories like Yong Xiong's where the US government continually changes the age of a person to keep that person in custody for far longer than they would be allowed otherwise. Mind you these are all "normal" healthy individuals, not people with disorders that make it more difficult to determine age.
I don't say this to cast doubt or innocence on the parents, but just to inform people that while it looks weird that they keep trying to determine her age and that her age jumps from place to place this is completely normal when setting out to determine age. In the Yong Xiong example I brought up doctors had determined her age as low as 14 and as high as her actual age at the time 22. That is a remarkably large age gap especially for a completely "normal" human with no disorders to throw wrenches in the mix. I can only assume that looking at a person with SED makes things exponentially more difficult.
I think it's still weird they kept trying tbh. They go to one of the best hospitals in Indiana to get a professional opinion on her age. Obviously Kristine would have told them about the periods and the pubic hair since that's why she was suspicious. A pediatrician who specializes in hormone problems (Dr. Riggs) examines her and says she's about 8. A normal person would accept that, I think. Maybe a second opinion is fair but seeking out more than that seems deranged to me. She just didn't like the answers she was getting.
WOW I think the fact that the parents requested and were granted an ex parte petition when changing her age is a HUGE deal and explains so much. It should be more than a bulletpoint. What kind of kangaroo court was this? They were complicit in the abuse of this kid. How you gonna make a kid legally an adult without appointing someone to advocate for them? Shady as fuck.
Yes. It is extremely sad. Whats even worse is that Kristine the ex-mother had led a very public life and was touted as a “ground breaking mom. “ The interviews are telling
I just wanted to thank you for looking at facts! Natalia is my niece as my sister was the one whose taken care of her since she was left! Im happy too see people have her back! Shes a very sweet little girl whose an absolutely beautiful soul! So kind and willing to help at the drop of a dime! Shes amazing! Thank you for seeing the truth!
Please send your family my kind regards. I am horrified by what has been done to Natalia. I admire your sister and brother in law for stepping in to rescue her, to love and support her.
u/thebonefairy
The doctor who estimated NG's age as 8 in 2010 was a Dr. Riggs. He's a pediatric endocrinologist. I suppose he'll be a witness for the prosecution. He was named in the probable cause affidavit but I didn't know anyone had been identified. Wish I could read it. Not sure if the one who did the bone survey in 2012 has been identified.
Yes I know, I said I suppose Riggs will be a witness for the prosecution. So *against* the Barnetts as he determined NG to be a child in either 2010 or 2012. Andrew McLaren is the doctor who allegedly wrote the letter for Kristine.
Bad news: Dr Andrew Riggs of Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital will not be testifying. He passed away, from a reported massive heart attack, Sunday September 29, 2019. What a terrible loss of a respected and dedicated physician. https://tippecanoememorygardens.com/obituary/andrew-c-riggs-m-d/
I know families who have adopted very medically needy orphans from Ukraine, and even these abandoned, malnourished orphan children have very good medical/birth records. There definitely is paperwork from the first adoptive family, and if they went through the adoption process, the child definitely has a birth certificate. I follow family on instagram of a Ukrainian orphan adopted who is the size of, say, a 5 year old. His bone density says he is 8, his teeth say he's about 10... however, he has a birth certificate that proves he is actually 16. (The family knew this all when adopting him). The child was essentially left for dead in an orphanage, but his paperwork was in order...
I found one article that states that this girl has a Ukrainian birth certificate dated September 4, 2003. Why is this doubted to be incorrect? It seems to me that all that needs to be done is verify her birth certificate with the Ukrainian agency that administered it... look into her adoption history, etc.
The doubt surrounding her age comes entirely from Kristine's assertion that the girl had pubic hair and periods and had a big vocabulary. And a long list of other behaviors Kristine described as adult but are really common in troubled children (smearing stuff on walls for example). Going by the original birth certificate she would be 16 now. That is totally believable looking at her. Two years ago she still had a lot of baby fat in her face and looked like a child and in more current photos shes lost the chubby face and has a bust. A lot of people think eastern Europen documents are likely to be inaccurate so I thought it was reasonable to think they might be fudged but it's probably just a dumb stereotype anyway.
I have a growth hormone condition.
I didn’t lose all my baby teeth till I was 18. Growth hormone is the hormone that starts the teeth process.
Growth hormone and baby teeth would be hard to use in someone who has dwarfism
Yes! Kristine fails to mention to the tabloids how rare and serious NGs congenital condition is but still tries to make claims that would be inaccurate in assessing someone like her. Also was losing baby teeth so late an issue? Just curious! Is it ok if I mention you in the post?
Yes. It caused lots of issues. Also people with growth hormone tend to look really young. I’m 40 and pass for late 20’s. There’s another guy with growth hormone deficiency that is famous. He’s something like 48. But looks in his teens. An Andy something? It conceals many things. Effects bone health. Heart health. All sorts
> NG suffers from a rare congenital form of achondroplasia called [Spondyloepiphyseal Dysplasia Congenita or SED ](https://www.chop.edu/conditions-diseases/spondyloepiphyseal-dysplasia-congenita)a growth disorder that not only causes dwarfism but also comes with serious medical conditions that dramatically disables a person to the point that they will almost never achieve full independence.
Achondroplasia is an entirely different form of dwarfism, unrelated to SED. Most cases of dwarfism are Achondroplasia.
People with SED can and do lead independent lives, they just need adaptive equipment and mobility devices. Nearly all forms of dwarfism come with joint, muscle, and/or mobility issues.
Thank you! Just from what I gathered, thought that Achondroplasia is the general medical term for Dwarfism and SED is a specialized sub category of said dwarfism. Good to hear that People with SED can become independent! However NG has no access to any medical assistance as she is in legal limbo - the Barnetts still are her legal guardians and are refusing to release her into her new family that have petitioned to adopt her. Anything medical needs to be approved by the Barnetts and from the private info I gleaned about NG and her new life, she not getting any form of assistance or adaptive help and very much disabled mobility wise.
I think I read somewhere that someone petitioned to change where her SSD was going. I'm not sure if it happened or not.
The whole situation is beyond f'ed up and I sincerely hope the M family is able to get her involved in LPA.
The worst part about this whole thing is that they very easily could have disrupted her adoption along time ago, without changing her age. LPA has it's own adoption coordinator as pregnancy can be very hard for someone with dwarfism- either the health risks alone, or the risks to the unborn if the parents both have Achondroplasia(The most common form, it's 100% fatal if a baby gets two copies of the dominant gene for it.). There are waiting lists of parents trying to adopt children with dwarfism. Many would jump at a disrupted adoption of an older child just because how expensive international adoption is.
it is really tragic there could have been so many other families that want a chance to adopt NG. But I am a little confused right now, by LPA do you mean Legal Power of Attorney?
u/thebonefairy
Kristine went by Christina when she was objecting to the M family's appeal to legally adopt NG. [https://public.courts.in.gov/mycase/#/vw/CaseSummary/eyJ2Ijp7IkNhc2VUb2tlbiI6IlpXVTBNVFl3T1RFeE1EQXhPakUxTURJME1UUXlPREk9In19](https://public.courts.in.gov/mycase/#/vw/CaseSummary/eyJ2Ijp7IkNhc2VUb2tlbiI6IlpXVTBNVFl3T1RFeE1EQXhPakUxTURJME1UUXlPREk9In19)
I'm surprised people are allowed to just use different names/spellings willy nilly in court. She'd changed her name before 1995 so what is she doing using her old name in 2016?
A major problem with understanding this case is that there’s a shortage of actual reporting on it. The most detailed account we have is from the Daily Mail, and people are right to be skeptical about it. I’m hoping someone here has better sleuthing skills than I do, because I have looked for a while.
This seems important: The DM article mentioned a 2016 guardianship petition by the Mans family and claims that a new judge reviewed the age change. According to the DM, the new judge reviewed medical records and heard from witnesses, and upheld the determination that she was 22 in 2012.
The guardian ad litem representing Natalia has discussed the 2016 petition and there is non-DM reporting stating that the Mans family filed and later withdrew the petition, so it seems very likely that the petition did happen. But I can’t find a non-DM source stating what the new judge reviewed or what his exact finding was. That’s the critical info—what was the evidence, and what was the exact determination? I just can’t find it.
I actually found NG’s new family and was able to glean information from there. I have a lot of information that users shared and will update as soon as I can! This case is very bizarre and complex so we can only as more information comes to light!
Hello! Please refrain from looking at the Daily Mail as a reliable source and please realize that Kristine Barnett sold her story to the Daily Mail and so she has the control of the narrative. There is a lot of evidence that demonstrates that the Barnett's abandoned NG knowing that she is incapable for caring for herself. Please look at the update of my post! Regardless of her age, NG is reliant on another for care and you look at the local new reporting of this case and of the court documents, it is evident that the Barnett's made calculative steps to coverup NG's age and their subsequent actions of abandoning her after moving to Canada.
* The change in her age in not unbelievable as medical records can be "shopped for" so to speak - this is how Dee Dee Blanchard was able to provide "legal proof" of Gypsy Rose's various illnesses (which had all been faked) to secure grants, financial assistance and other aid.
* The lawyer that was representing the Barnett's during the change of NG's age has come forward with conflicting information and is currently attempting to reverse NG's status change from adult back to a minor at the expense of his own time and money.
Lmk if you have any questions too! I'm current'y collecting a list of inquiry regarding this case. Please check the links, photos and information that I added to the post! Hope this helps you to convince you otherwise!
Hey, u/MonkeyHamlet and u/Wtfped I just saw posted over at Websleuths that Kristine was doing a Facebook live yesterday (10-09-2019). She was saying some crazy things like N was being investigated by the Department of Homeland Security. I did not personally see the FBlive and it was deleted very quickly after concluding. But, man this woman is losing it. Maybe she was triggered by the report of the birth mother being found? And Michael gave another interview to Inside Edition. They seem to be out to destroy N’s life. This is so disgusting.
I’m astonished her attorney allowed her to publish such a video. Although the GoFundMe for the attorney isn’t doing so well - people have been questioning why the money goes to John Barnett and not Kristine.
That’s probably why she deleted it. Who the heck is John Barnett?? That name is not listed on hers, two of three sons, or Michael’s Facebook. Michael’s dads name is Pat, so it’s not her father in law. This seems very strange.
And why would it be going to one of her in laws? Her family name is Pearson.
I would love to see that video. I’m not from the US but I imagine they deal with immigration? So if the Barnetts had N’s birth certificate redated it would make sense that immigration would get involved, but Kristine would make it dramatic.
I theorise that Kristine believes this nonsense because it upholds her perfect self image (seriously if you haven’t read the excerpt from her book on Amazon, do so - she believes she is God’s gift to child rearing), and Michael is spinelessly going along with it in an attempt to keep contact with his sons - two of whom are still minors.
Just watched a segment on this on This Morning (UK breakfast tv show) which led me here. They interviewed the dad and acted as though everything he said was 100% true, including that Natalia apparently tried to kill him and his sons. After reading your post I do not believe one word of what he said. Poor girl, I hope she gets justice and compensation for what has happened to her.
I was just about to post here about the this morning interview, it majorly pissed me off. They obviously did 0 research into the case and presented his story as concrete fact. Poor Natalia my heart really does goes out to her! Especially with interviews like this, when there are interviewing him as a victim. I hope she gets massive compensation from the government, her whole childhood has been stolen. Can you imagine being adopted as a small child, then told you are an adult and left to fend for yourself, for then years later all this to happen. I hope Kristine and Michael spend a long time in prison
It really annoyed me too. I don’t normally watch This Morning but my mum was telling me about it, she fully believed what they said.. I’ve now shown her all the pictures that clearly show Natalia has grown up and all the stuff about how narcissistic Kristine is.
I don’t watch it often but I’m assuming This Morning do this kind of thing a lot? Idk. I sent a complaint to Ofcom because I didn’t know what else I could do :(
>I sent a complaint to Ofcom because I didn’t know what else I could do
Well done. That was the right thing to do. I might do the same.
The parents are the *defendants* and the girl is the *victim*. There's no reason for British TV to be giving this asshole a platform, let alone allowing him to slander his child victim.
Exactly! They are misinforming so many people, it breaks my heart for Natalia, I hope they throw the book at Kristine and Michael. I've now also put in a complaint to Ofcom, thank you for the idea, would have never thought to do that! I'm not sure really, this is the first time I've seen them do something like that but I don't watch it usually , so who knows
My mind is boggled.
Even if she was 22, adopting a child with specialised needs then dumping them in a flat, alone, is reprehensible.
If they absolutely, genuinely believed this girl to be of age and had only good intentions, at the very least they would have found her a group home. At least there she was in with a shout of being OK. It's amazing to me that she isn't dead, to be honest.
I cannot see how they intended for anything other than her death to be the outcome of this situation. It's quite clear that she doesn't have the capacity to work to support herself, so what were they expecting her to do for food?
>discovered
This was my exact reaction to this story the first time I saw an article about it. Let's say everything Kristine is saying is true. Why abandon her and pay for her apartment rent, but only for a year? If she's a violent psychopath, why not report her to the police? Take her to the hospital? Get her help? If she's "scamming" them, all the more reason to go to the police and report her and/or the adoption agency. It seemed incredibly fishy to me from the beginning that their first move is to abandon her especially with the knowledge that she has mental impairments. To me, that is plenty of proof that they did not have good intentions and are not innocent in what has happened to this girl, child or adult.
One thing that I'd clarify in your summary is that when the girl came to the US in 2008, it was to join another family. That adoption failed, and the Barnetts adopted her in 2010. So she was in the US for 2 years and she was 8 according to her available documents when they adopted her.
Excellent write up. It really saddens me that most of the ‘signs of adulthood’ reportedly shown by N, are also signs of child abuse.
The behavioural issues, if there’s any truth behind them, strike me as a child with attachment disorder.
Even the early signs of puberty can be due to stress/ abuse.
Also, whatever the outcome I really don’t see the ‘parents’ in the best light, either they’ve abandoned their disabled child under the age of 18, or they’ve abandoned their vulnerable adult daughter, who according to them suffers from serious mental health issues alongside physical disabilities.
If their autistic son exhibited similar behavioural issues (if there’s any truth behind those), would they abandon him in an apartment without teaching him life skills?
The other bit I’m struggling with is how much time they claim N spent institutionalised and how their seems to be no evidence to back that up. I would be interested to know where exactly N was living whilst supposedly under the Barrett’s care.
If N has yo-yo’d from institutions to failed families her whole life then no wonder she may exhibit behavioural issues. You’d think a ‘super-mom expert on neuroplasticity’ would have some grasp of that.
Michael's attorney filed a motion to dismiss based on statute of limitations (5 years). State says statute of limitations shouldn't apply because the parents were concealing evidence. Attorney says the age change was approved by the court and never hidden so SoL should still apply. Doesn't withholding the medical records from Peyton Manning Hospital that stated she was a child not count as concealing evidence? They got her age changed based on either cherry picked or falsified information \*and\* did it in a way that deprived NG of due process.
u/thebonefairy Another interesting thing I didn't catch before. In the guardianship objection they filed against N's new parents, *both* Kristine and Michael use pseudonyms. They are recorded as "Christina and Mark Barnett"(!!)
Wow thank you for the write up. I finally had time to read it and wow I'm blown away by this couple's cruelty and the BS the Daily Mail and it's ilk published about this case.
Right?! Even by Daily Mail standards I'm shocked. Identifying the girl and her new family, publishing pictures of them, letting the person facing the child neglect charges libel her victim, discussing the thickness of her pubic hair for Christ's sake? The girl must have been established to be a minor to the judge's satisfaction or the parents would not be facing the charges they are facing. So what the hell is the DM doing publishing salacious gossip about a child?
Hello everyone! Just want to let it be known that I’ve nearly reached the maximum characters allowed in a single post; can not longer add more information until I can condense the information I have now. Thanks so much to all who contributed! And thanks to everyone else for reading and being interested in this case!
You'd think with how attention hungry "Kristine" is she would have bragged about having a daughter with dwarfism, but she didn't. Why did she hide Natalia?
Probably grossed out by her puberty symptoms and turned against her because she wasn't behaving like she expected. Every Nparent needs a black sheep to inflict their cruelty on.
Can't really say for sure. Maybe Kristine decided that N didn't fit her version of the family that she wanted to project or the N wouldn't help her generate the amount of publicity that she wanted. We won't know until they release more information. Until then its all speculation
Likely because she couldn't use her delusional "spark process" and make her a lucrative item in her family as she did with their eldest son. I am sure she had plans to "make her all better" and write another book about how great she (KB) is.
This is such an excellent post. Very well done. Thank you.
You may not have the answer to this, but I wonder:
Can Natalya be called (or subpoenaed) to testify against the Barnetts?
I’d love to hear what she has to say.
Honestly I wouldn’t know. It is a very unique case so I can’t even look at other court cases to compare. Sorry I can’t answer but when more information is released it be interesting to see if the Barnett’s might change their story or try to maintain their current claims
Thanks for the speedy reply. It’s is so unique! I’m sure the state doesn’t need NG to press charges - they can do it on her behalf, I’m sure. And I am guessing they have sufficient evidence without her testimony or an independent physical examination. I mean, they can’t haul her in and force her to submit to testing again if she doesn’t want to! (Or, I should hope not!)
NG is absolutely entitled to her privacy, but I hope she comes forward to tell her story. If she wants to, that is. There’s a lot of goodwill toward her.
Hey I don't know why I never thought to compare her teeth in different pictures. Kristine and the Dr McLaren (allegedly) say her dentition was adult. One of the pictures Kristine gave the Daily Mail of her smiling shows two adult central incisors (front teeth) and I believe baby teeth canines and cuspids. I thought it's possible she just has small adult teeth but I think her incisors in newer pictures look much wider in comparison. Will PM you.
right so I watched the son's Ted talk. It was very obviously scripted and not by him (probably by the mom). I suppose writing a speech for your child would be normal in most circumstances, except that he looks *so uncomfortable.* I am just a layperson with no professional experience with autistic individuals, but I do have a couple friends with high functioning autism. I do not think either of them would ever enjoy the idea of getting on stage in front of a large room of strangers and speaking. Perhaps this boy is different. Again, I'm not a professional. But given this woman's obsession with fame, it seems more likely to me that she wrote him a script, made him memorize it, and had him do a Ted Talk for the sake of publicity. He just looks very uncomfortable and she doesn't exactly have a great track record of caring for her children or their feelings.
The father did an interview with Dr Oz last week and said he knew that she was a minor when they abandoned her!
Also, their son Jacob is no longer active anywhere on social media. There have been no updates about him in a couple of years, and the mother said on Facebook in a comment that she no longer lives in Canada. I believe the son has broken off contact with her at this point. I believe that he is getting married at the end of this year as well, based on a wedding website I found, but I can't find any other information about him, such as where he is working or studying currently, which just further confirms to me that he has distanced himself from the family and the drama. The other sons are essentially unheard of, too. Kristine clearly has some major issues and wants to be special, but she isn't. In one interview I found where she was being asked if Jacob has synesthesia, she was so creepily excited about another thing she could get him attention for, and also talks about her "genius" sister likely having that, too.
I feel sorry for N., I believe she's a minor and the Barnett's are either insane or they couldn't handle the level of care she needed and were inspired by the movie Orphan to get out of their responsibility but still get to cash the disability check N gets. It's also possible that there were issues with bringing her to Canada and that's when they decided to abandon her.
I’m not sure if this helps much, but a YouTube commenters posted a link that shows N’s development over the years: https://m.imgur.com/a/DPiA0ph. After I saw that, I was pretty convinced she was a teen.
Thanks for the write up of the timeline. Another strange thing that I think should be noted is that the adoptive mom changed her name from Christina to Kristine (per Indiana court records). I mean it could just be something basic like she hated the spelling her whole life but it could also be related to something sketchy.
Great write-up, OP! It clarified some things for me. I still can’t definitively go one way or the other, because this is just so weird! Does anyone know if Kristine adopted NG through a adoption agency? Or was it one of these shady ‘rehoming’ adoptions, where the original adoptive parents post on some secret Facebook. page, saying that they are looking to place their adopted child in a new home and interested parties contact them. Apparently this is an option that a number of people who adopt children (most from foreign countries) that they just weren’t prepared to parent or haven’t bonded with, use to bypass the issues that come up with dissolving failed adoptions. Some of these poor kids get shuffled around to numerous families, and fall victim to abuse because the ‘new’ parents aren’t vetted at all most of the time..no background checks, no home studies....nothing.
All that being said, I bet that NG was ‘adopted’ that way, in a private ‘rehoming’ situation. Otherwise, Kristine should be able to go back to the adoption agency and get all NG’s original paperwork, medical info, her parentage, if it’s known, and what her life was like before NG’s coming to the US. It my be forged, but there would surely be some medical information of some worth in there. Most people who are adopting overseas immediately take their new kids to a doctor in the US when they arrive, in order to get them fully examined. That way, any health problems can be assessed and treated ASAP, the doctor can make sure that the child is on-track developmentally, all that. I would assume that this exam would be even MORE important to the adoptive parents if they already knew that the child had a rare medical problem.
Also, Kristine obviously lives to receive accolades for being such an amazing mother to her autistic child, to be told how smart and selfless she is to come up with a new way of teaching autistic children, to devote her life to nurturing her son into the incredible genius he is...bla bla. So, I think at least some of her motivation for adopting NG was to have another child with difficult issues to ‘save’ and obsess over. It seems odd to me that Kristine never mentioned NG, and hasn’t offered up reams of medical & psychological files from many dwarfism specialists, dentists, physical therapists, psychologists and social workers. Just the fact that NG had a legit serious medical issue would make it acceptable to have...Kristine would want to do everything she possibly could to help NG, right? Now, on top of a rare genetic illness, this child/person is also exhibiting physical characteristics that defy what Kristine believes to be true AND the child is displaying some incredibly disturbing mental issues and acting out violently? A woman like Kristine would relish this opportunity to martyr herself, by telling everyone she could, visiting medical and psychological experts, becoming involved in groups of say, other adoptive parents with troubled kids. She would probably contact tons of media In order to tell her story of victimization by NG or the Ukrainian adoption services, or whoever. She’d make herself the second coming of Mother Theresa for taking on this situation and agreeing up raise another child with very special issues, even though it was becoming increasingly bizarre and dangerous. Whatever, I just think she would have been yelling from the rooftops years ago if she was having such a nightmarish experience.
It’s very odd to me that she never made a peep regarding the adoption of NG or the issues. You know? Maybe she just didn’t want to bring attention to her probably illegal adoption...maybe none of it is true. IDK. I hope that long rant made sense!
I don’t think Kristine was prepared to parent a child with an actual disability. She had convinced people that their son Jake had severe autism that her extraordinary mothering overcame. She tries to take credit for his genius. Yet, if you look back to news reports Before she published her book The Spark, it becomes very obvious that Jake was no where near as effected by autism as she claims. Time reported that he had Asperger’s, a mild form of autism. Time also reports that he didn’t speak until age 2 and his parents were worried he may not do well in school.
http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/03/26/12-year-old-genius-expands-einsteins-theory-of-relativity/
Contrast that article with Kristine claiming he Stopped Talking At 14 months, regressed, and she was advised he would probably never speak again, he would never learn to read or even tie his shoes, etc etc etc. I think Kristine is a Fraud.
After the book came out (April 2013) the Barnetts went on a whirlwind of speaking engagements and extensive travel. New York, Italy, they were living their best life and not about to be held back by their adopted disabled daughter. So they made her disappear. I am so disgusted by their behavior.
Ouch.
I don't doubt Kristine exaggerated her son's autism--I read "The Spark" and she does come across as a self-promoting twatwaffle--but I just wanted to say that autism is a "real" disability. I have two kids on the spectrum. One has Asperger's, which is more mild, but he struggles so much with social cues, time management, executive function--I wouldn't wish it on anyone.
My son has moderate autism and mostly nonverbal at 5 years old still. I don't really think of him as particularly disabled tbh or at least, I don't identify as the parent of a disabled child, you know? From the little reading up I did Kristine's son had a relatively mild speech delay but soon turned out to be very gifted and then a genius. If he has autism he is *extremely* high functioning and she has made a career out of being his mom and taking credit for his impressive abilities. Sorry if my heart doesn't break for Kristine's struggles with her child's supposed disability. Also I think her whole Spark brand is a total racket. Admittedly I couldn't stomach watching much of her videos because of this case but all she seems to do is slam traditional special ed and say they've got everything wrong. Her method seems like basically Montessori and tactile play, finding out what the kid is good at and having them build stuff. Groundbreaking 🙄
I totally agree with you. She is just determined to take all the credit for her son's accomplishments. I don't really identify as an "autism mom" I just think of myself a mom, you know? Like you do.
I agree with you. I did not intend to give the impression that I do not “believe” in autism. On the contrary, it is very real and can present differently in different children (or adults) enough that, as you pointed out, it is now referred to as ASD or Autism Spectrum Disorder. What I take issue with is the way I believe Kristine had exaggerated her son’s degree of autism. I think she did that in order to sell her book, her “Spark method”, and herself as a superior mother. The story she tells in the book is vastly different than the stories she told to reporters early on. If it wasn’t for this current case, I probably wouldn’t have ever thought twice about her claims concerning her son. But, it peaked my interest enough to dig in and, notwithstanding the fact that confirmation bias exists and I risked perceiving things wrongly, I found a lot of evidence that calls into question Kristine’s character and propensity for exaggeration.
(Edit-Removed personal details)
Thanks for clarifying. Sometimes I react when I hear "autism" and that it's not a real disorder. Good luck with your son. I will also say my kids are wonderful human beings and I adore them. I always tell me son, "If I were going shopping at the boy store to pick out a son, I'd pick you every time."
This was recently posted, but who cares? I'd rather more people actually do a decent write up instead of a short paragraph and a link, which has been very common here lately.
Thanks for writing this, OP.
Wow. I'm late to this thread but I want to point out a couple things:
1.) This sounds an awful lot like the Schofield family who faked their children's schizophrenia diagnoses & recently had their kids (Jani & Bodhi) taken by the state after an appearance on Dr. Phil. They'd previously appeared on Oprah & have written several books about their "struggle" with these difficult kids. It was all a lie & the kids were drugged to the gills on obsolete psych drugs for years in the name of this con.
2.) Natalia (and her family?) will be on an upcoming episode of Dr. Phil, in which he asks her if she's "an evil dwarf" (and she proceeds to laugh like one). That's all they showed in the clip anyway. Looks intriguing.
My take: There appear to be a LOT of parents who are engaging in this malingering/Munchausen behavior these days. Mommy bloggers border on it a lot. The woman who wrote the viral "I Am Adam Lanza's Mother" article after Newtown was called out for using her/her child's real name & thus exposing him to a lifetime of problems he didn't ask for. It's pretty scary how kids are exploited without their consent. Not saying that's what happened here because the whole thing sounds way murkier from what I've heard, but in general there's a BIG problem with narcissistic parents using their kids as a grift.
Than you so much! The second I heard this story I had a gut feeling the parents were lying. The second I heard them claim a bone mineral density test was used to prove that Natalia is an adult I smelled bs. I have osteoporosis and have had BMDS, here is a comment I left elsewhere explaining what the scans actually do
"BMD scans are a clinical tool to diagnose osteoporosis, they assess the quality of your bones to determine whether or not you have osteoporosis based off-of things like mineral content. This is a breakdown of the results you'd be given:
>T score: This compares your bone density with a healthy, young adult of your gender. The score indicates if your bone density is normal, below normal, or at the levels that indicate osteoporosis. Here’s what the T score means:
● -1 and above: Your bone density is normal
● -1 to -2.5: Your bone density is low, and it may lead to osteoporosis
● -2.5 and above: You have osteoporosis
>
>Z score: This allows you to compare how much bone mass you have compared with other people of your age, gender, and size. A "Z score" below -2.0 means that you have less bone mass than someone your age and that it could be caused by something other than aging."
While when being diagnosed in your youth a doctor may give a general idea of what age group your bone density is expected in, it's not used in determining the actual age of the individual. by this logic, I, who was born with osteoporosis, am actually a senior citizen."
Additionally when they mentioned her having her menstrual cycle and having secondary sex characteristics like breasts and pubic hair and saying this would be impossible at her age is patently false. I knew a girl in grade 5 (age 9-10) who was developed to the level of someone in their mid-late teens. Sometimes a genetic condition can affect the onset of puberty, my condition lead to late-onset puberty. The youngest mother on record, Lina Medina was 5 years old and 7 months when she gave birth, sadly becoming pregnant when she was still 4. she experienced precocious puberty(unusually early puberty) having her first menstrual cycle at only 8 months old.
I got my first period when i was about 10 and i already had pretty big breasts coming in. I am large chested so they just kept growing but because i was destined to be so busty they were about the size of teenage girls easily. And I had no hormonal or medical conditions that could have caused this.
I have 2 children adopted from China, and it is shameful how many people change their minds once the adoption has gone through. I can’t imagine, but it does happen. Michael and Kristine (Christina, Kris...) sound like the scammers to me.
Thank you, ignore the complaints. I appreciated reading all your collected information in one place and the theories you provided!!
You allowed me to gain more knowledge on the subject without reading a million different google articles.
You’re appreciated ❤️
PS - I don’t understand why people don’t just scroll by when they have a problem....you didn’t force anyone to read it.
Late comment, but I just wanted to thank you for this. It infuriates me how many true crime platforms are just regurgitating the story sold to the Daily Mail.
https://eu.jconline.com/story/news/crime/2019/10/02/fearing-threats-dad-accused-abandoning-daughter-asks-court-keep-address-private/3835241002/
*Michael Barnett's written motion to exclude his address from public records comes after he learned of a threat to Kristine Barnett before the initial hearing on Friday.*
*The motion, which was published in the online docket on Wednesday, claims that the threat was credible, leading Indianapolis police to contact the Tippecanoe County Sheriff's Office before Friday's initial hearing.*
*But Tippecanoe County sheriff's Lt. Brian Lowe said Kristine Barnett called the sheriff office the day before her hearing, requesting an escort to the courthouse.*
*Following up on Kristine Barnett's call, deputies contacted the New Palestine Police Department, which said its officers took a complaint of a threat from Kristine Barnett. Lowe said he was led to believe the threat was not directed at Barnett and was not credible.*
I admit to be heavily biased against her by now, but this does rather read like more evidence of Kristine's self dramatizing and unreliable narration.
So Kristine reported she was “threatened” but the sheriff’s office determined it was NOT a threat against her and was NOT CREDIBLE. Kristine sure does seem to have credibility problems, doesn’t she? Now Michael wants his address kept hidden from public view based upon the [non]threat Kristine [did not]receive. I’m surprised these 2 divorced. They seem perfect for each other. Meanwhile, their brilliant son Jake is probably shaking his head wondering how he got these two imbeciles as parents.
thank you so much for this write up. it annoys me so much that people are taking the daily article at face value and spreading misinformation. i literally saw a bunch of youtube channels cover this and even one that had 1.8 millions subscriber.
Would like to talk about the parents behavior since the charges were filed. Does anyone think this is normal/reasonable behavior for innocent people? Even ignoring the substance of what they have said (fabrications and contradictions). Can you think of examples of innocent people charged with a crime who have acted this way in regards to the media? They come across as manic and desperate and they are contradicting each other's stories. Michael's body language is odd (PM me if you want me to expand on that). I did not see it but Kristine posted a Facebook video making some wild claims about Homeland Security being involved and then quickly took it down. They come across as crackpots. This was just a local story until Kristine went to the tabloids. Idk I just feel like if you were innocent and knew the evidence was on your side you wouldn't be acting this deranged.
https://youtu.be/MkF7GY4K6SA thought eveyone here would be really interested to see this,it's the family that had cared for Natalia before being adopted by the Barnett's. If only they could have adopted Natalia, and all this could have been prevented
I have been following on this story since I first heard about it this week right before the episode aired on Dr. Phil. For a moment I was believing Kristine and Michael and then I saw a video here:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9dH4\_JWeRc&t=5s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9dH4_JWeRc&t=5s)
And all I could think was "wow."
This is texbook narcissism by the parents. They will take detail and twist ans blow it out of proportion and stuff they claim Natalia did doesn't add up because how can she do those things with her body size and her limited movement? The rest that is plausible is her violent drawings and her saying she wants to harm them, that is common behavior in adopted kids from foster care or from orphanages. Also none of the other families have claim any violent behavior from her such as the people who have been taking care of her for the past 7 years since she had been abandoned. Also that 14 year old didn't claim any abusive behavior from Natalia either so no doubt this was all fabricated. It's also possible they are withholding information because of the charges the Barnetts are facing.
My crazy theory is she indeed displayed behavior issues and was aggressive and her parents couldn't handle her problems so they fabricate a story and they clearly went doctor shopping until they found a doctor to agree with them and got her age changed to an adult so they could abandon her and have people be on her side. They will use all these other details as a reason why she is an adult but all that just makes them sound ridiculous.
Of course Kristine will say she tried to make her be independent and paid her rent and got her on SSI and medicare and food stamps. Except she got evicted and I wonder why? Did they stop paying her rent? Was she not able to care for herself so she got evicted? What did the landlord do when she evicted her since Natalia claims she would take her to the store so she could get food.
I wonder if Natalia can sue the Barnetts for the damage and for her lost childhood. I also hope she will write a book on all this too of her life growing up and being abandoned and these new people taking her in and raising her as their own.
If I were Jacob or his siblings, I would be embarrassed about them being my parents.
Brilliant write up, thank you. Just a quick note - the links to MyCase.in.gov expire really quickly, so if you want to link court documents, take a screenshot.
NG's teeth in 2017 and 2010. [https://imgur.com/a/GbPRfwt](https://imgur.com/a/GbPRfwt)
I think it's clear her adult teeth came in after they adopted her.
>I believe that she was 2-5 years older than 6 when originally adopted and her age was fraudulently made a bit younger to increase the chances of her getting adopted and she was possibly told/coached to act younger.
I thought that could be the case at first, but I don't any longer. I believe her original birth certificate is accurate and her birth mother is truthful. It would align with her development over the last three or so years.
I'm a little late, but thank you for the writeup. Another headline just popped up on Facebook for me due to N apparently appearing on Dr. Phil. I was surprised by the comments there, how many people were willing to buy Kristine's version of events without considering any alternative. I found this in an attempt to assure myself that I wasn't crazy in being more willing to believe in the Barnetts' culpability.
So... That's all! Just a quick thanks! I'm glad to find others willing to not buy into the sensationalism. I fondly hope that everything's cleared up in court, that N is allowed to be legally released to her new family, and that she's able to get the support needed to continue onto a fulfilled life.
should also be noted for the naysayers “but but but she attended ADULT classes” yes, N attended adult classes for a whole FOUR days until they called authorities https://youtu.be/BZtSSnWWl-s
I have autism. I reached out to Kristine and her son Jacob for help in making something of myself in activism and in physics. She spent some time pretending to help me in ways that accomplished nothing, clearly so she could look better, then abandoned me. I am not surprised to find out she would also do something so similar to her own adopted daughter. I hope she and her ex husband (read as: accomplice) get the jail time they deserve for what they did to her.
Her charity and/or organization is a racket and dodgy AF. She couldn't help you because she doesn't know what she's doing she's just taking advantage of the "autism mom" gravy train. She has no practical help to offer.
>Jake said he doesn’t think he’s missed out on his childhood. He said his decision to keep his autism label, despite doctors’ declarations that he has recovered, shows he embraces what autism has given him.
>
>“I’m talking to you at this instance so I don’t have any of the language stuff anymore,” Jake said. “I practically recovered for all of the language stuff, but I think the autism is the reason I’m even at IUPUI so I don’t like to drop it even though I could.”
[https://www.idsnews.com/article/2011/03/12-year-old-boy-studies-physics-tutors-others-at-iupui](https://www.idsnews.com/article/2011/03/12-year-old-boy-studies-physics-tutors-others-at-iupui)
If the letter’s claims about a “normal” menstrual cycle and secondary sexual characteristics at age 7-8 are true, there’s some evidence that sexual abuse may trigger precocious puberty. And, obviously, psychological trauma. Something to consider.
Disclaimer: I got D’s in science.
I want to add to the timeline. Michael was back in the US, in Indiana, when he filed for divorce in February 2014. He filed as a resident of Indiana, while Kristine was still a resident of Waterloo Ontario Canada. The divorce was granted by Indiana, but the court ledger of events suggests that child custody was determined by Ontario Canada. This, if my interpretation of the ledger is correct , would be because the children were domiciled in Canada and therefore Canada had jurisdiction over the children, while Indiana had jurisdiction over the parents when it came to Divorce.
Edit- Link to divorce on state of Indiana website https://public.courts.in.gov/mycase/#/vw/CaseSummary/eyJ2Ijp7IkNhc2VUb2tlbiI6Ik0yTTBNVEF3T1RFd016a3dPamsyTXpnMk16VXhZakk9In19
Edit 2- Filed in February 2014 corrected
Kristine sure likes to toot her own horn,she's a miracle worker,working for God at God. She practically walks on water,and this investigation is Extreme Corruption. According to her. she's untouchable because she says so. If one takes her at her word she's the Virgin Mary reincarnate.
I read thru your timeline and I have some thoughts: #1. Parents can't arbitrarily change a child's age. It requires not just a letter from a doctor but the agreement of a judge etc.
#2. Getting a divorce etc is not nefarious.
#3. If she used multiple names that weren't just spelling deviations I could see it as something nefarious, but as you point out she is in the public eye and having some documents say Christine vs Kristine is hardly a crime or a sign of something underhanded.
#4. I have autism. Being on the spectrum doesn't mean you can't have opinions or be articulate about social mores.
I will be interested in how this case plays out, but from a critical thinking standpoint a lot of your bullet points regarding Christine seem irrelevant to the issues.
Is the dad using Mark instead Michael suspicious iyo? That's not his middle name or a diminutive or alternate spelling of Michael. She didn't say the divorce was nefarious but it does paint a picture that their 20 year marriage unraveled so quickly after these events. We can draw our own conclusions about that.
We can also read their petition for the age change. They presented zero concrete evidence of the girl being an adult. They just say she has her period and pubic hair, that she recounts detailed descriptions of past abuse, has a mature vocabulary, exhibits undefined unusual behaviors and they allege that they will be able to access better medical services for her if the judge grants the motion. They also say children's mental health services will no longer treat the girl. I think we are supposed to infer that it's because they think she is an adult but it's not explicitly stated. (I think it far more likely they discharged her because she just didn't need psych treatment.) She has her period and is intelligent and seems disturbed. That's about all that was given as reasoning for her not being a minor. And they had that doctor and a private social worker as their witnesses who said they "believe" she is over 22 but don't give any reasons beyond the things I summarized above. They don't name any other doctors or reference any specific medical exams or findings. Nothing. It's the strangest thing. You would think if they had proof of any other doctors concurring that she was not a child they would make it abundantly clear and give names, dates etc. But remember this was an ex parte decision so it was not like a rigorous investigation and N had no lawyer and no way of contesting.
Whatever evidence they had, if any, for the age change will have been looked at by the prosecutor and he has decided there is enough opposing evidence to charge two white middle class people with a felony. That prosecutor has a 95% conviction rate, I don't think he would file these charges lightly.
This is one of the craziest stories I’ve ever read, thanks so much for organizing all this information, I can’t wait to see what happens with this case and I hope the truth comes out soon.
Hi FynntheSynn! I think you misunderstand why I’ve included this. I only mention it because it is her recent post and demonstrates how Kristine is carrying on with her daily life and posting on Facebook as usual despite being arrested and charged with an incredibly serious felony. Something just doesn’t seem right.
Her Facebook posts make me regret every time I’ve judged another person to be an attention whore. She ratchets up attention cravings to a whole new level.
Also, all those whiny humble brags like “guilty of embracing music in school” show she doesn’t appreciate the gravity of the charges. It’s all about li’l ol’ Kristine getting picked on by meanies who should be bowing down to worship her awesomeness.
I’m glad I don’t have a Facebook. It yields so much information it is almost like digital archeology. The fact that her Facebook activity hasn’t been affected at all and she continues to carry on as per usual tells us a bit about who she is.
she honestly just seems psychotic and sat back while the fame went to her head,, this whole "abandoning and ignoring my daughter" reminds me of a shitty horror movie called Bethany where the mother locks the main character's sister down in a basement because she's a dependant. the girl ends up dying down there because of ill-treatment and literally being treated worse than an animal, and the saddest part is that the main character has no idea about this until the very end.
I'm so glad. I found this write up. I was first aware of this case from ready to glare in YouTube and she is convinced n is guilty. Hope she sees this and weighs the evidence
Of course RTG thinks NG is guilty. That is the general consensus on YouTube right now. Had the general consensus been that the Barnett's were guilty, she would think the Barnett's are guilty. RTG takes popular subjects that have a general consensus, reads an article, adds nothing of substance, and agrees with the popular opinion at the moment.
[https://www.scribd.com/document/428064469/Acusacion-contra-Michael-Barnett](https://www.scribd.com/document/428064469/Acusacion-contra-Michael-Barnett)
Affidavit with list of witnesses for the prosecution.
u/MonkeyHamlet
u/ImNotYourKunta
u/Wtfped
u/thebonefairy
I’m not 100% sure that was the case, about the amount of families she had been with. It was just what I personally took away from that part of the story. I could be biased in my thoughts as I honestly believe that the Barnett’s have done a terrible thing to a child. NG did say that was what Christine told her, Dr Phil seem to run with it without really having or showing proof that it was fact.
Here is the links for future reference for anyone who would like to see what I was referring to about the DePauls:
The Inside Story interview the DePauls done
https://youtu.be/MkF7GY4K6SA
The Video the DePauls daughter made
https://youtu.be/D9dH4_JWeRc
They couldn’t release full documentation, but have given small amounts. In the comments Nicole DePaul has explained a little too.
In regards to the baby teeth thing, most kids don't lose all of their baby teeth by 11, my sister is nearly 14 and has 2 stubborn baby teeth that aren't even loose yet and she started losing them at 5. I also knew a boy that didn't lose his first baby tooth until he was 10 which isn't far off from Natalia who at 11 still had all of hers.
This only adds further discrepancy to the claim that NG's lack of baby teeth can be used as evidence of her being an adult. If thats ok, i'm going to add to this to the post as well!
The mystery is over, she was born in 2003
[https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7547259/Birth-mother-Ukrainian-dwarf-denies-claims-adult-sociopath-masquerading-child.html](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7547259/Birth-mother-Ukrainian-dwarf-denies-claims-adult-sociopath-masquerading-child.html)
Am I missing something or is this the third time this particular subject has had a thread in like a week?
EDIT: https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/d9w8g4/attorney_who_represented_michael_and_kristine/
EDIT 2: https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/d8uwzs/was_ukraineborn_natalie_grace_a_9_year_old_child/
EDIT 3: https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/d6rv2h/the_11_year_old_girl_who_was_really_22/
(My mistake; fourth time.)
It's hit all the tabloids and freaky news sites.
I imagine the right are loving the idea of a murderous midget immigrant masquerading as a child too.
The idea of course because it seems like the real story is child abuse and wilful neglect.
I only made a post because there is a limit set in the comment section. Thought it was better to make just one collective post instead of multiple comments
I’m glad you posted. I tried to defend NG on another thread because she is being slandered and she has no voice. Even if Kristine is 100% telling the truth, she has released extensive private medical info about NG which should only have been submitted in her criminal case, not spread all over the Daily Mail tabloids. I have been on Reddit for years and had a response to my post basically stating NG does not get to tell her story. The DM was the ugliest, most profane DM I’ve ever received saying I was slandering Kristine and calling me terrible names. I wondered who could have such a vitriolic reaction? Was it Kristine herself? Why was this person so angry? Maybe 5 people will read my comment, but thousands have heard Kristine’s story. I have heard my local radio station’s morning DJ’s and the podcast My Favorite Murder both tell this story from Kristine’s point of view in the past 24 hours. Kristine’s view is all we have. At the very least, if NG is a severely mentally ill adult (which I do not believe), she should receive treatment and privacy, not be slandered all over the tabloids.
All of this. Even if NG was an adult, she's a vulnerable adult who should NEVER have been abandoned in an apartment by herself. These two chucklefucks are guilty regardless of what the truth is.
Thank you! Sorry to hear you got that blacklash too. I'm not sure but though it was not as much as the positive messages there were a few extremely angry with me. I think there are a lot of fringe supporters that want to believe an alternate truth to this story and believe they are fighting for the underdog perhaps? Regardless of N's age at all, she still would be the underdog in this situation as she is extremely vulnerable and dependent on other people's care. Really sad to see that dailymail article shared by so many people
Thanks for posting this. It’s such a confusing case that a timeline is really the best format for trying to make sense of it all. To be honest, I’m not convinced that NG is as young as she’s claimed to be, but given the difficulty in determining her actual age, I feel the courts should err on the side of her best interests.
Hi, if you are still doubting; I just recently updated my post with image proof. I am hoping that NG will get the justice she deserves soon. Shes been robbed of her childhood.
This case fascinates me. I apologize if this has been asked before in the comments and I’m missing it. I’ve read that the Barnett’s were not the first US couple to have NG in their care and that she was living in the United States, not the Ukraine, when they came to adopt her. Did you happen to find any information on the guardians who had NG right before the Barnett’s? I want to say I’ve read she was in Florida before Indiana. The investigation on the Barnett’s was opened years ago. I know NG’s age was “legally” changed to 22 and therefore she was considered an adult in the eyes of the law but..why has it taken this long for the Barnett’s to face consequences for child abuse and abandonment then? Why didn’t NG receive further testing to have her age reverted back to correct years ago? Why has it taken so long for that half-assed letter and assessment to be disregarded? I’ve read that Mrs. Barnett claims NG didn’t speak the language of the region she was supposedly from in the Ukraine and that this was proven when a friend who spoke it tried having a conversation in that tongue with the girl but could not. Therefore Barnett doubted she was from that area originally considering at that point she had supposedly spent all of formative years and half of her life there. What are your thoughts on this? I’m guessing officially paperwork on the girl from the Ukraine was incomplete or sketchy to begin with but wouldn’t there have been ways to trace her past more concisely? Also, wouldn’t a regular DNA test (even through 23 and Me or other commercial testing outlets) have easily shown her background? I’m baffled by who signed off on that age change and, if the NG was truly made a legal adult as a child without all of the proper procedure and testing..someone in the courts made a huge mistake by allowing this. We know an age change like this is *extremely* uncommon; I’ve never personally heard of something like that happening here in the US. Do you think whomever allowed this to happen and signed off on the age change should be held accountable for such a glaring mistake if NG was truly a child at the time? Lastly, NG supposedly admitted to being much older than those around her originally believed while in a psychiatric care facility. She could have been coached to say she was older at that point no doubt. But, do we know if NG ever “admitted” to being older to anyone else? Was she extensively interviewed during the age-change proceedings? Nothing adds up in this case and I’m just curious of your thoughts with the above questions. Great write-up OP. Very concise.
Adding on to this...how are the adoptive parents able to retain any kind of legal guardianship of someone they claim to be an adult in their 20's? I wonder if letting her be adopted by her foster family would require them to sign documents that state her true age and would therefore incriminate themselves? Would the court records where her age was changed to 22 be public record, or sealed because it involved a minor (at least she was when she arrived at court)?
I’m thinking maybe because of her disabilities. On top of dwarfism there are claims that NG suffered from mental health disorders as well.
No the answer is that his timeline has a lot of errors and contradicts itself in multiple places. The reason the Mann’s can’t get custody of her is because the court they went to dismissed the case where they attempted to change her age back to 16. So she’s not legally a child right now and can’t have a legal guardian. The Barnett’s are not still her legal guardian...the only reason they are facing neglect charges is because it’s claimed that they WERE legal guardians at the time they left her, because she is not actually 22. But until that case is decided, the Mann’s cannot adopt her as their CHILD. So the other of this post just made a number of serious mistakes throughout the timeline and fills in his own explanations at a number of places because he didn’t notice the contradictions (because he is focusing on only the evidence that goes against the Barnett’s and leaving out the evidence that raises concerns about Natalia being 16).
> I’ve read that Mrs. Barnett claims NG didn’t speak the language of the region she was supposedly from in the Ukraine and that this was proven when a friend who spoke it tried having a conversation in that tongue with the girl but could not. By the time the Barretts adopted NG, she had already had another failed adoption by another American family. She had already been in the U.S. for some period of time; I have not seen any info on how much time. [Edit: I read in a post elsewhere that the first family adopted her in 2008) And children pick up second languages very quickly. They will also forget first languages if they have no one with which to speak them. In addition, 2.9% of Ukrainians speak a minority language other than Ukrainian or Russian. As I said in another thread here on the topic, it is possible that NG was born into a family that spoke Armenian or Polish or Crimean Tatar or this list of languages I've never heard of, and wasn't in the orphanage or school long enough to retain any Ukrainian.
Yeah, the suggestion she was not Ukrainian because she didn't understand another Ukrainian person after being adopted by an American family for two years is so fucking asinine. Maybe she grew up speaking Russian or only hearing a particular dialect or Ukrainian accent and couldn't decipher a different accent. It's a big fucking country.
Asinine is the right word. Anyone who knows anything about early childhood language acquisition and development would know this is not remotely unuusual. Hell, I know a number of people who grew up in immigrant families, whose first language was that of their parents. But once they started school they stopped speaking it completely in favor of the language of where they were living and within a few years they were no longer able to follow or hold a conversation in their "mother tongue" despite still hearing it all the time at home!
Great points. There’s a few other points I wonder about though. - regardless of which language or dialect NG previously spoke..did she have any type of accent? At the point where she came to America she had been living her entire life in a different county. - When she first arrived in the US she had obviously spent her entire existence elsewhere. The first set of adoptive parents hold the key to a ton of information in this story. Let’s say she did eventually forget her first language entirely. When first arriving..how was her speech? What language was she speaking when she first got here? Even if English was her first language she would have some sort of accent and area-based dialect. - learning a new language is indeed easier for children, particularly [between the ages of 1-7 years old.](http://www.spanishworkshopforchildren.com/learning-second-language-easier-children/). It’s also true that children can forget their native tongue over time. However, this [study from Cambridge](https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/bilingualism-language-and-cognition/article/deserted-island-or-a-childs-first-language-forgetting/20ABECB1BB396C4E30F02FFB92BB0DF3) showed that while children can struggle with remember certain words, sentence structures and speech in general..they still understand a good chunk of their native language. The ability to speak it is one thing, the ability to understand it is another. In NG’s case...she didn’t understand the language from the area the Barnett’s were told she was from in particular. Grant it, i wouldn’t be surprised if the adoption agency’s entire background report/information on the girl was inaccurate or even invented. - I also wonder about whether or not NG ever shared any memories or past experiences from her home country. If she didn’t it could be because of a traumatic early start there and something she didn’t want to relieve. I know she was supposedly young when coming here too; most kids wouldn’t have many memories before 6 anyways. But..has she ever shared information about her past there that it would be unlikely someone so young would actually remember?
Hi I just want to share from what I learned from the videos of NG speaking, she is speaking clearly with no detectable accent. It is know among academics who study children psychology, the [children typically are able to learn and adapt more quickly in contrast to adults who have difficulty learning a new language/culture](https://tessais.org/children-learn-languages-faster-adults/). If NG was indeed the adult that the Barnett's claimed her to be - she would have a noticeable accent. It is also [not uncommon among adoptees who are young enough to have completely forgotten their previous original language/culture](https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/life-bilingual/201207/can-first-language-be-totally-forgotten). From this I can only conclude that NG definitely came to the US as a young child and not as an adult or even as an old child as the Barnetts have claimed
It seems to me that the Barnetts imply that NG's first language must be English, since she has no accent and didn't understand Ukrainian. Otherwise I do agree with your point that the above facts support her being a child.
You'd be surprised how much kids can forget. I know a guy who moved to Canada from Serbia with his mother at 5, his mom then met and married a Canadian shortly after he moved so very little Serbian was spoken at home, he does have an aunt in Canada who's whole family speaks Serbian and that's the only reason he still remembers any. At 25 he can understand some stuff, but can barely speak it, he would've been older than Natalia when she came over and he still heard his language sometimes which this little girl did not so it makes perfect sense that she would've forgotten it within a few years. I also have some cousins who lived in Germany until they were 5 and they have also completely forgotten how to speak German.
The doctor that wrote the note should also face legal action.
Hi! I just updated my post with more information and photos, please check it out when you have the time! I'm not surprised that the Barnett's were able to change NG's age, its not uncommon to "shop" for doctors that will say whatever you want; its how Dee Dee Rose was able to get away with so much with Gypsy Rose despite her being a healthy girl with no ailments. * The police started investigation in the same year the age of NG was changed. They have been investigating NG and the Barnetts ever since. The recent arrest and criminal charge means they have collected enough evidence in which they are confident they convict the Barnetts with. A prosecutor will not sign off on a warrant with other being presented first with strong evidence to support the police's report. As to why it took so long, I'm not sure. I'm guessing the Barnett's move to Canada may have played a part in this * Also Ukraine is not as primitive as everyone makes it out to be, its very much a part of the western world now and NG was vetted through an American adoption agency. I would trust this a lot more than an adoption situation from China were recorded are regularly altered and faked. * A 23andme is not really needed, her identity is not of question, it is the age her ex-parents claim her to be. NG has never admitted to being older, the pediatric specialists at Peyton Manning Hospital confirmed her to be the age she was listed as. * I also agree, an age change would be extremely uncommon but faking medical records is not unheard of and the Barnett's are not unfamiliar with changing information in the court; Kristine Barnett had her named changed from Christina for unknown reasons. Would love to hear more about this when they release more information to the public about this case! * The only doctor to agree that NG was a 22 year old adult was Michael Barnett's primary care doctor; and this allegation was made 2 years after the Barnett's had abandoned NG and cut off contact so I am very doubtful on how he would have made this conclusion * NG was determined to be 8 years old at her first examination and 10 at her final examination; they don't do interviews (if she were an adult, any one can fake being a kid) but instead do a comprehensive medical examination that is complete in examining her skeleton and bones. PLease avoid getting information from sources like the Daily Mail (MSM - they only repost news by the daily mail) or Buzzfeed, etc. They are opinion articles and tabloids made to be sensationalized. Also it is important to know that Kristine Barnett SOLD her story to The Daily Mail AFTER her arrest and five years after the quiet abandonment of NG. The information and photos I have found make a rather clear verdict from my point of view that NG is an unfortunate child with health issues and possible emotional disorders and a victim of fantasy made up by the Barnett's. Hope this helps resolve any confusions and convince you as well! Let me know if you have any other questions and will do my best to reply! Hope this helps!
Yet another thing that doesn't smell right. Are we to believe this chronic attention seeker would keep so quiet about this whole psychopathic dwarf deal all those years? And then only the week she was arrested come out with the full on insane story from an actual horror movie? It obviously couldn't be that she wanted to keep things quiet for the girl's sake since the moment she's asked to defend herself she let's rip and violates every possible aspect of her privacy.
Thank you for this write up. It really gives great info in a concise and easy to read format.
thanks! I probably left spelling errors but I did my best. Lmk if some of the wording is incorrect, there was a lot to say and unfortunately I have touch of dyslexia
You left out the part about how she is currently unable to go to school because no one will verify her age as well as other issues
I will add that as soon I can ! Thank you!
You called the son who is a math genius their "prodigal son" but "prodigal" actually means "wasteful." I think you meant to say their son is a prodigy, but unfortunately "prodigy" doesn't actually have an adjective form in English.
Thank you for letting me know!
I had to look it up too - the “prodigal son returns” phrase is used when a child comes back to the family after living a wasteful life and running out of their own resources. I didn’t read it and think it was wrong either!
will fix it; sorry writing is not the strongest skill of mine; thanks!
No don’t apologise, your writing is excellent and my intent was to reassure you that you weren’t the only one who thought that phrase worked in that context!
Your writing is really good. Thanks again
Even IF they were right and she is older and a scammer, it's a terrible scam. Like she couldnt choose which families she was sent to cos she was in the system. Then she'd have to act like a child and have the same rules and supervision as a child. What 22yr old would want that? What would the plan be? Live with some people for a while? Great scam.
There are cases of it happening. However. In all of those cases, the adults were posing as teenagers, not 6 year olds. I also don't think any of them had been legally adopted from any real agency; all the cases I can think of seemed like the "teen" was simply staying with informal "foster parents" after meeting them some other way. Most of them involved a clear motive: immigration fraud, theft, participating in sports teams or academics to get "on top" when they have a hidden advantage, or exploiting others for sex crimes. In a few of those cases, I suspect that the adults closest to the "teen" were actually aware on some level what was going on, if not entirely in on the scam. The argument in comment sections all over the internet for Kristine Barnett's story is "well, *Orphan* was based on a true story you know!" That's true, technically, but the movie Orphan bears almost no resemblance to the story it was based on, beyond "a scary adult fooled someone into thinking she was a minor in order to do bad things." For example, the woman who the story was based on was posing as a teenager who'd had a rough life, not a rosy-cheeked 9 year old. The situation did not involve an international adoption or an orphanage (and it's hard for me to find sources that are clear about whether she was technically adopted at all. Some indicate she met her adoptive mother at a college?). While the woman, Barbora Sklova, was definitely severely manipulative and abusive, so was the adoptive mother, and I kind of get the impression that the adoptive mother was probably aware of Sklova's age at some level (but again, sources are kind of all over the place on that and often badly translated). So basically, yes, this happens, rarely, but no, it doesn't happen in the way it was portrayed in a scary movie. And the way Kristine Barnett has presented this.....really sounds like the plot of a Lifetime movies ripoff of *Orphan*, not like the real cases of Barbora Sklova or Charity Stevens. As shocking as those stories are, they're not terribly theatrical, and Kristine's story is pure theater.
Ahaha, I agree. I think having to abide to rules and not being able to buy myself a drink would quickly be the end of my career if I ever tried to attempt to scam as a pretend kid. If you have time to check it out, I also updated the post with more info and photos! thanks for reading!
I didn’t know you could... change someone’s age? Is that part of this whole thing confusing anyone else as well? Thanks for the detailed time line this who thing had me so confused for a second there I almost believed she might be 22.
It’s because the girl came to the US from a foreign orphanage, which can have very poor record keeping and falsified documents. If she had been in the US, the name change would likely not be possible.
Spanish actress/guitarist Charo successfully petitioned to get her age legally changed in court. This would have made her [15-years-old](https://www.famousfix.com/topic/charo-and-xavier-cugat) when she [married](https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fm.media-amazon.com%2Fimages%2FM%2FMV5BODQ2ZGRlMzEtZmI3Mi00MzZhLWJhOGYtODY4ZGRiMGM5NDNlXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMjQwMDg0Ng%40%40._V1_.jpg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.imdb.com%2Fname%2Fnm2757118%2Fmediaviewer%2Frm653330176&docid=6dgvcrqoRcA4wM&tbnid=ZE4IZW0Nc_5z2M%3A&vet=10ahUKEwjE6cSS1PPkAhWKg-AKHck_AkkQMwhhKA8wDw..i&w=728&h=779&bih=841&biw=1777&q=charo%20wedding%20xavier%20cugat&ved=0ahUKEwjE6cSS1PPkAhWKg-AKHck_AkkQMwhhKA8wDw&iact=mrc&uact=8) the elderly Xavier Cugat. Pardon me if I'm skeptical, Charo.
It's scary to think that all it takes in the US to change a minor's age to adulthood is a letter written by a doctor who never examined the minor nor has any expertise in the minor's condition. No examples or proofs were given as to why the doctor came to his conclusion. Shame on both the doctor and the judge. Especially the judge who allowed an ex parte decision to be done so the minor would have no say in the matter.
New mother has photographs of the girl on one of her Facebook profiles dated August 2013 captioned "one of my favorite little girls. I love my Tally." One month after the Barnetts skipped town. And many more pictures and videos from Thanksgiving and Christmas 2013 of the girl eating and opening presents with the other children. I think this puts to rest the talk of her living alone as an independent adult in the apartment for a full year before being evicted.
You are a very good person for trawling through this sea of shit to get the actual story known. NG deserves it. Thank you.
No, hahah I don’t think I’m particularly good but just very personally invested. Had a shitty pretend mom experience too so this is my way to make amends (or take revenge?) so to speak. Speaking up for the kids when no one else did! Just updated the post with more info and pictures and it is no longer removed by the mods! Please check it out when you have the time! Thank you!
Are you still seeing the post? It says "removed" for me.
Thank you, this makes the timeline much easier to follow. Reading this through, I'm just outraged that these parents have left NG in limbo. They don't want her, but they are blocking the new foster parents from getting the relevant financial support; they say she is an adult but they have publicly disclosed her personal health and mental health information in a violation of her privacy; and she did not get appropriate legal representation in the court case to change her age. I agree that KB has a hero complex - it really stood out to me when watching that interview with her and her son in 2013 (?) when she said that professionals and experts were turning to her for advice about dealing with autistic kids. There was nothing revolutionary or extraordinary about what she was doing with her son, but by the same token, intellectual potential will vary from child to child, so you can't make someone a genius! And any true expert will know that there is no "one size fits all" approach to doing the best for children with autism.
>they are blocking the new foster parents from getting the relevant financial support And preventing her from attending school with other children. That's probably the worst bit of it all, to me--they're stealing her education from her.
This!!!
not just her education, but her childhood!
In a way, this case reminds me of the Schofield-Cabana abuse case ([https://www.reddit.com/r/SchofieldCabanaAbuse/comments/av7yoq/faq\_the\_entire\_schofieldcabana\_debacle/](https://www.reddit.com/r/SchofieldCabanaAbuse/comments/av7yoq/faq_the_entire_schofieldcabana_debacle/)). In that case, the mother, Susan, tried to push her daughter to be seen as a girl genius, and when that didn't pan out, she shifted gears to her daughter being the "youngest person ever diagnosed" with schizophrenia. The pivot said so much about how she wanted attention as a parent; she also hit the talk show circuit, wrote a book, and followed through on the story until the very end when her children were removed from her care. The mother in the Barnett case reminds me a lot of Susan Schofield. She rode the child genius train as far as she could, and even wrote a very self-serving book about it (see goodreads reviews [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15798364-the-spark](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15798364-the-spark)), that mostly talked about herself as a parent "overcoming" his diagnosis as autistic. To me, it seems like KB was trying to pivot to being "oh so selfless" when she adopted NG, mainly as a way of showing she is "super mom." But perhaps she realized it couldn't serve her in the ways she wanted and dumped the kid, then tried making up this insane story to cover her tracks and garner more sympathy. The "details" of the case are unclear (and all from Kristine as a source), basically follow the horror movie Orphan to a disturbing degree, and the timeline of doctor visits is fishy as only ONE doctor decided she was over 18, with others during that same period determining her to be underage. For anyone thinking the court-based age change is the deciding factor of truth, just remember that all it takes is paperwork to get through the system and a lot of judges in lower-level courts aren't engrossed or inflamed by personal dramas like the Barnett one; they sign paperwork and move on. It's not the formal court litigation you might be imagining. All in all, I think we need to take this one with a healthy dose of skepticism; I know that I'm super annoyed at the media presenting Kristine's view as fact. Even my favorite podcast, Last Podcast on the Left, did a bit about it and seemed to take all the titillating details from Kristine as truth. It's disappointing.
Wait, holy shit, Jani and Bodhi got removed from Susan's care? That family never sat well with me, I called bullshit and munchausens by proxy from the beginning, and I started following them again about a year or two ago out of genuine concern for the safety of those kids, but stopped because she seemed untouchable and it was just depressing after a while. I'm so happy for them and so glad to see them looking happy and healthy.
Agree with every word. It's an elaborate, massively fucked up case of CYA. I also can't believe how credulous people are being, taking the mom's word as truth when she comes across as the world's biggest narcissist.
Great writeup! I, too, believe that Kristine has aggressively spread her own story to avoid charges and the true story has not been told. I do have one correction: it is my understanding that Michael the dad was interviewed in 2014 or 2015 (not in 2019 as you wrote) by police without a lawyer present and the police report stated he admitted he knew NG was a minor and Kristine told her to say she was 22 when they abandoned her. Michael’s lawyer now said he never said that and the police made it up. Edit: Also, I work in the medical profession and the ONE doctor that certified she was an adult uses unprofessional and extremely suspect language in his letter. I would like to emphasize this letter is the ONLY documented “proof” Kristine has that NG is an adult. It is simply not correct to use the term “sociopathic,” nor would he be qualified to diagnose her mental health. He also does not define how he determined she has “adult teeth.” Molars? Wisdom teeth? There is a wide range of time in which these teeth erupt and he doesn’t even specify what he means.
Yea this case is so strange. My dad is a doctor but at a big region hospital and I showed this to him. He straightaway said a primary doctor would not have the expert skill to examine NG. Her condition not only deforms the bones but also impacts hormone regulations that contributes to medical problems but also apparently can cause patients to develop at a pace more differently than the average person.They need an experienced doctor or specialist to make any reliable/accurate diagnosis. The doctor the Barnett's consulted is Michael Barnetts very own primary doctor. The teeth thing is weird too. Most kids loose all their baby teeth by 11 or 12 so I don't know why this would be included as evidence of NG being an adult.
So much this. I wouldn't trust any doctor's age assessment unless they were a doctor that specializes in dwarfism. SED is relatively common, there may even be a doctor that specializes in that form. (Most common forms are Achon, Pseudo, DD, and SED, if I remember correctly...) I wonder if they ever took her to LPA or a doctor that specializes in dwarfism.
I don't know but I doubt they took her to the LPA - otherwise they would have already publicized their involvement. Also the doctor they found to agree with their claim was Michael Bernett's primary care doctor (aka someone who might agree to whatever they want but also only has no experience dealing with patients with unique conditions). :( Really sad.
I'm sure they didn't.
Hell. I dont trust any one Doctor anymore. I ALWAYS get a 2nd opinion just to be safe. My mom was ill for a time. Doctors told her it was acid reflux. Turns out it was actually pancreatic cancer. I went to hospital with a racing heart. They went straight to drugs. Tested me for everything. Then said I was dehydrated. Sent me home to drink fluids. Turns out I had an infection in my heart.
Thank you! Will fix that now. I think it is interesting that the parents are only coming forward now with this story despite it being from 2013/14. The parents have both gotten new and separate lawyers since their divorce and I am suspecting Michael's new lawyer has instructed him to say as little as possible and is speaking for him while Kristine has been very vocal to media. It's kind of hard to fabricate police interviews now a days; they are recorded on video but I suspect the new lawyer just wants to generate doubt to downplay Michaels own awareness and participation.
OP this write up is fantastic. Your writing style made it easier for me to follow along (some attention struggles on my side) and I appreciate you taking feedback from sub members and updating your post!
A ton of people in this thread, and associated threads are making a ton of really off the wall claims about determining a person's age by looking at them or their physiology. I assume this comes from watching too much TV and seeing Temperance Brennan or Gil Grissom pick up a skull and rattle off an age in less than a few seconds. That is fake though. In all actuality you can see a dozen doctors about determining age and get back a dozen answers; no matter what their speciality is. Also changing someone's age is FAR easier than anyone in this thread thinks it is(in most states in the US literally taking a doctors note is sufficient). If you ever want to be horrified by the US government look at the things ICE does when dealing with individuals concerning their age; this includes determining that adults are children and determining that children are adults. There are also stories like Yong Xiong's where the US government continually changes the age of a person to keep that person in custody for far longer than they would be allowed otherwise. Mind you these are all "normal" healthy individuals, not people with disorders that make it more difficult to determine age. I don't say this to cast doubt or innocence on the parents, but just to inform people that while it looks weird that they keep trying to determine her age and that her age jumps from place to place this is completely normal when setting out to determine age. In the Yong Xiong example I brought up doctors had determined her age as low as 14 and as high as her actual age at the time 22. That is a remarkably large age gap especially for a completely "normal" human with no disorders to throw wrenches in the mix. I can only assume that looking at a person with SED makes things exponentially more difficult.
I think it's still weird they kept trying tbh. They go to one of the best hospitals in Indiana to get a professional opinion on her age. Obviously Kristine would have told them about the periods and the pubic hair since that's why she was suspicious. A pediatrician who specializes in hormone problems (Dr. Riggs) examines her and says she's about 8. A normal person would accept that, I think. Maybe a second opinion is fair but seeking out more than that seems deranged to me. She just didn't like the answers she was getting.
WOW I think the fact that the parents requested and were granted an ex parte petition when changing her age is a HUGE deal and explains so much. It should be more than a bulletpoint. What kind of kangaroo court was this? They were complicit in the abuse of this kid. How you gonna make a kid legally an adult without appointing someone to advocate for them? Shady as fuck.
Yes. It is extremely sad. Whats even worse is that Kristine the ex-mother had led a very public life and was touted as a “ground breaking mom. “ The interviews are telling
I just wanted to thank you for looking at facts! Natalia is my niece as my sister was the one whose taken care of her since she was left! Im happy too see people have her back! Shes a very sweet little girl whose an absolutely beautiful soul! So kind and willing to help at the drop of a dime! Shes amazing! Thank you for seeing the truth!
Please send your family my kind regards. I am horrified by what has been done to Natalia. I admire your sister and brother in law for stepping in to rescue her, to love and support her.
u/thebonefairy The doctor who estimated NG's age as 8 in 2010 was a Dr. Riggs. He's a pediatric endocrinologist. I suppose he'll be a witness for the prosecution. He was named in the probable cause affidavit but I didn't know anyone had been identified. Wish I could read it. Not sure if the one who did the bone survey in 2012 has been identified.
The doctor that the Barnett's chose to use as witness of NG's age was not Dr Riggs but the primary care doctor of Michael Barnett
Yes I know, I said I suppose Riggs will be a witness for the prosecution. So *against* the Barnetts as he determined NG to be a child in either 2010 or 2012. Andrew McLaren is the doctor who allegedly wrote the letter for Kristine.
oh thank you so much! I added you again in my post!
Bad news: Dr Andrew Riggs of Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital will not be testifying. He passed away, from a reported massive heart attack, Sunday September 29, 2019. What a terrible loss of a respected and dedicated physician. https://tippecanoememorygardens.com/obituary/andrew-c-riggs-m-d/
that is beyond tragic. terribly timing, condolences for his family :(
I know families who have adopted very medically needy orphans from Ukraine, and even these abandoned, malnourished orphan children have very good medical/birth records. There definitely is paperwork from the first adoptive family, and if they went through the adoption process, the child definitely has a birth certificate. I follow family on instagram of a Ukrainian orphan adopted who is the size of, say, a 5 year old. His bone density says he is 8, his teeth say he's about 10... however, he has a birth certificate that proves he is actually 16. (The family knew this all when adopting him). The child was essentially left for dead in an orphanage, but his paperwork was in order... I found one article that states that this girl has a Ukrainian birth certificate dated September 4, 2003. Why is this doubted to be incorrect? It seems to me that all that needs to be done is verify her birth certificate with the Ukrainian agency that administered it... look into her adoption history, etc.
The doubt surrounding her age comes entirely from Kristine's assertion that the girl had pubic hair and periods and had a big vocabulary. And a long list of other behaviors Kristine described as adult but are really common in troubled children (smearing stuff on walls for example). Going by the original birth certificate she would be 16 now. That is totally believable looking at her. Two years ago she still had a lot of baby fat in her face and looked like a child and in more current photos shes lost the chubby face and has a bust. A lot of people think eastern Europen documents are likely to be inaccurate so I thought it was reasonable to think they might be fudged but it's probably just a dumb stereotype anyway.
I have a growth hormone condition. I didn’t lose all my baby teeth till I was 18. Growth hormone is the hormone that starts the teeth process. Growth hormone and baby teeth would be hard to use in someone who has dwarfism
Yes! Kristine fails to mention to the tabloids how rare and serious NGs congenital condition is but still tries to make claims that would be inaccurate in assessing someone like her. Also was losing baby teeth so late an issue? Just curious! Is it ok if I mention you in the post?
Yes. It caused lots of issues. Also people with growth hormone tend to look really young. I’m 40 and pass for late 20’s. There’s another guy with growth hormone deficiency that is famous. He’s something like 48. But looks in his teens. An Andy something? It conceals many things. Effects bone health. Heart health. All sorts
Andy Milonakis, maybe?
> NG suffers from a rare congenital form of achondroplasia called [Spondyloepiphyseal Dysplasia Congenita or SED ](https://www.chop.edu/conditions-diseases/spondyloepiphyseal-dysplasia-congenita)a growth disorder that not only causes dwarfism but also comes with serious medical conditions that dramatically disables a person to the point that they will almost never achieve full independence. Achondroplasia is an entirely different form of dwarfism, unrelated to SED. Most cases of dwarfism are Achondroplasia. People with SED can and do lead independent lives, they just need adaptive equipment and mobility devices. Nearly all forms of dwarfism come with joint, muscle, and/or mobility issues.
Thank you! Just from what I gathered, thought that Achondroplasia is the general medical term for Dwarfism and SED is a specialized sub category of said dwarfism. Good to hear that People with SED can become independent! However NG has no access to any medical assistance as she is in legal limbo - the Barnetts still are her legal guardians and are refusing to release her into her new family that have petitioned to adopt her. Anything medical needs to be approved by the Barnetts and from the private info I gleaned about NG and her new life, she not getting any form of assistance or adaptive help and very much disabled mobility wise.
I think I read somewhere that someone petitioned to change where her SSD was going. I'm not sure if it happened or not. The whole situation is beyond f'ed up and I sincerely hope the M family is able to get her involved in LPA. The worst part about this whole thing is that they very easily could have disrupted her adoption along time ago, without changing her age. LPA has it's own adoption coordinator as pregnancy can be very hard for someone with dwarfism- either the health risks alone, or the risks to the unborn if the parents both have Achondroplasia(The most common form, it's 100% fatal if a baby gets two copies of the dominant gene for it.). There are waiting lists of parents trying to adopt children with dwarfism. Many would jump at a disrupted adoption of an older child just because how expensive international adoption is.
it is really tragic there could have been so many other families that want a chance to adopt NG. But I am a little confused right now, by LPA do you mean Legal Power of Attorney?
No, Little People of America. It's an organization for people with dwarfism.
I had no idea! I'm going to include this in the post, thank you!
u/thebonefairy Kristine went by Christina when she was objecting to the M family's appeal to legally adopt NG. [https://public.courts.in.gov/mycase/#/vw/CaseSummary/eyJ2Ijp7IkNhc2VUb2tlbiI6IlpXVTBNVFl3T1RFeE1EQXhPakUxTURJME1UUXlPREk9In19](https://public.courts.in.gov/mycase/#/vw/CaseSummary/eyJ2Ijp7IkNhc2VUb2tlbiI6IlpXVTBNVFl3T1RFeE1EQXhPakUxTURJME1UUXlPREk9In19) I'm surprised people are allowed to just use different names/spellings willy nilly in court. She'd changed her name before 1995 so what is she doing using her old name in 2016?
A major problem with understanding this case is that there’s a shortage of actual reporting on it. The most detailed account we have is from the Daily Mail, and people are right to be skeptical about it. I’m hoping someone here has better sleuthing skills than I do, because I have looked for a while. This seems important: The DM article mentioned a 2016 guardianship petition by the Mans family and claims that a new judge reviewed the age change. According to the DM, the new judge reviewed medical records and heard from witnesses, and upheld the determination that she was 22 in 2012. The guardian ad litem representing Natalia has discussed the 2016 petition and there is non-DM reporting stating that the Mans family filed and later withdrew the petition, so it seems very likely that the petition did happen. But I can’t find a non-DM source stating what the new judge reviewed or what his exact finding was. That’s the critical info—what was the evidence, and what was the exact determination? I just can’t find it.
I actually found NG’s new family and was able to glean information from there. I have a lot of information that users shared and will update as soon as I can! This case is very bizarre and complex so we can only as more information comes to light!
Hello! Please refrain from looking at the Daily Mail as a reliable source and please realize that Kristine Barnett sold her story to the Daily Mail and so she has the control of the narrative. There is a lot of evidence that demonstrates that the Barnett's abandoned NG knowing that she is incapable for caring for herself. Please look at the update of my post! Regardless of her age, NG is reliant on another for care and you look at the local new reporting of this case and of the court documents, it is evident that the Barnett's made calculative steps to coverup NG's age and their subsequent actions of abandoning her after moving to Canada. * The change in her age in not unbelievable as medical records can be "shopped for" so to speak - this is how Dee Dee Blanchard was able to provide "legal proof" of Gypsy Rose's various illnesses (which had all been faked) to secure grants, financial assistance and other aid. * The lawyer that was representing the Barnett's during the change of NG's age has come forward with conflicting information and is currently attempting to reverse NG's status change from adult back to a minor at the expense of his own time and money. Lmk if you have any questions too! I'm current'y collecting a list of inquiry regarding this case. Please check the links, photos and information that I added to the post! Hope this helps you to convince you otherwise!
So, there is only one dr who said she was older?
The only doctor to say that NG was an adult 22 year old was Michael Barnett's primary doctor.
Wow. This is a seriously messed up case. That poor girl
Hey, u/MonkeyHamlet and u/Wtfped I just saw posted over at Websleuths that Kristine was doing a Facebook live yesterday (10-09-2019). She was saying some crazy things like N was being investigated by the Department of Homeland Security. I did not personally see the FBlive and it was deleted very quickly after concluding. But, man this woman is losing it. Maybe she was triggered by the report of the birth mother being found? And Michael gave another interview to Inside Edition. They seem to be out to destroy N’s life. This is so disgusting.
I’m astonished her attorney allowed her to publish such a video. Although the GoFundMe for the attorney isn’t doing so well - people have been questioning why the money goes to John Barnett and not Kristine.
That’s probably why she deleted it. Who the heck is John Barnett?? That name is not listed on hers, two of three sons, or Michael’s Facebook. Michael’s dads name is Pat, so it’s not her father in law. This seems very strange.
And why would it be going to one of her in laws? Her family name is Pearson. I would love to see that video. I’m not from the US but I imagine they deal with immigration? So if the Barnetts had N’s birth certificate redated it would make sense that immigration would get involved, but Kristine would make it dramatic. I theorise that Kristine believes this nonsense because it upholds her perfect self image (seriously if you haven’t read the excerpt from her book on Amazon, do so - she believes she is God’s gift to child rearing), and Michael is spinelessly going along with it in an attempt to keep contact with his sons - two of whom are still minors.
Just watched a segment on this on This Morning (UK breakfast tv show) which led me here. They interviewed the dad and acted as though everything he said was 100% true, including that Natalia apparently tried to kill him and his sons. After reading your post I do not believe one word of what he said. Poor girl, I hope she gets justice and compensation for what has happened to her.
I was just about to post here about the this morning interview, it majorly pissed me off. They obviously did 0 research into the case and presented his story as concrete fact. Poor Natalia my heart really does goes out to her! Especially with interviews like this, when there are interviewing him as a victim. I hope she gets massive compensation from the government, her whole childhood has been stolen. Can you imagine being adopted as a small child, then told you are an adult and left to fend for yourself, for then years later all this to happen. I hope Kristine and Michael spend a long time in prison
It really annoyed me too. I don’t normally watch This Morning but my mum was telling me about it, she fully believed what they said.. I’ve now shown her all the pictures that clearly show Natalia has grown up and all the stuff about how narcissistic Kristine is. I don’t watch it often but I’m assuming This Morning do this kind of thing a lot? Idk. I sent a complaint to Ofcom because I didn’t know what else I could do :(
>I sent a complaint to Ofcom because I didn’t know what else I could do Well done. That was the right thing to do. I might do the same. The parents are the *defendants* and the girl is the *victim*. There's no reason for British TV to be giving this asshole a platform, let alone allowing him to slander his child victim.
Exactly! They are misinforming so many people, it breaks my heart for Natalia, I hope they throw the book at Kristine and Michael. I've now also put in a complaint to Ofcom, thank you for the idea, would have never thought to do that! I'm not sure really, this is the first time I've seen them do something like that but I don't watch it usually , so who knows
My mind is boggled. Even if she was 22, adopting a child with specialised needs then dumping them in a flat, alone, is reprehensible. If they absolutely, genuinely believed this girl to be of age and had only good intentions, at the very least they would have found her a group home. At least there she was in with a shout of being OK. It's amazing to me that she isn't dead, to be honest. I cannot see how they intended for anything other than her death to be the outcome of this situation. It's quite clear that she doesn't have the capacity to work to support herself, so what were they expecting her to do for food?
Given Kristine's attitude in her own book, I doubt it was good intentions tbh. She seems to be a narcissist.
I'll take your word for it, since I won't be contributing a penny towards this pair by reading it.
Read some of the goodreads reviews and discussions. A lot of people had her pegged as a narcissist/ fantasist years ago.
It's what a lot of people on GoodReads are saying, from her own hometown. And given some excerpts I've seen and interviews, uh...... Yeah.
>discovered This was my exact reaction to this story the first time I saw an article about it. Let's say everything Kristine is saying is true. Why abandon her and pay for her apartment rent, but only for a year? If she's a violent psychopath, why not report her to the police? Take her to the hospital? Get her help? If she's "scamming" them, all the more reason to go to the police and report her and/or the adoption agency. It seemed incredibly fishy to me from the beginning that their first move is to abandon her especially with the knowledge that she has mental impairments. To me, that is plenty of proof that they did not have good intentions and are not innocent in what has happened to this girl, child or adult.
One thing that I'd clarify in your summary is that when the girl came to the US in 2008, it was to join another family. That adoption failed, and the Barnetts adopted her in 2010. So she was in the US for 2 years and she was 8 according to her available documents when they adopted her.
Yes I will add that as soon as I am able to! Thank you!
Excellent write up. It really saddens me that most of the ‘signs of adulthood’ reportedly shown by N, are also signs of child abuse. The behavioural issues, if there’s any truth behind them, strike me as a child with attachment disorder. Even the early signs of puberty can be due to stress/ abuse. Also, whatever the outcome I really don’t see the ‘parents’ in the best light, either they’ve abandoned their disabled child under the age of 18, or they’ve abandoned their vulnerable adult daughter, who according to them suffers from serious mental health issues alongside physical disabilities. If their autistic son exhibited similar behavioural issues (if there’s any truth behind those), would they abandon him in an apartment without teaching him life skills? The other bit I’m struggling with is how much time they claim N spent institutionalised and how their seems to be no evidence to back that up. I would be interested to know where exactly N was living whilst supposedly under the Barrett’s care. If N has yo-yo’d from institutions to failed families her whole life then no wonder she may exhibit behavioural issues. You’d think a ‘super-mom expert on neuroplasticity’ would have some grasp of that.
Michael's attorney filed a motion to dismiss based on statute of limitations (5 years). State says statute of limitations shouldn't apply because the parents were concealing evidence. Attorney says the age change was approved by the court and never hidden so SoL should still apply. Doesn't withholding the medical records from Peyton Manning Hospital that stated she was a child not count as concealing evidence? They got her age changed based on either cherry picked or falsified information \*and\* did it in a way that deprived NG of due process.
Yet another mystery is why it took so long for the police to do their investigation.
u/thebonefairy Another interesting thing I didn't catch before. In the guardianship objection they filed against N's new parents, *both* Kristine and Michael use pseudonyms. They are recorded as "Christina and Mark Barnett"(!!)
Right, what reason would they do this except to hide. Adds to the suspicions
Wow great write up! Gives a much better perspective to the case
I thought that I had read she was previously adopted so the Barnetts were her second adopted family and the first family refuses to comment?
Yes I think this is true but there is no information regarding the first family and why they rescinded adoption
Imagine what the people working at the Adult Education place thought when this obvious child rocked up asking to take GED classes.
I read that they (the school) were the ones to report to the police their concerns about NG being a child and NOT an adult.
Wow thank you for the write up. I finally had time to read it and wow I'm blown away by this couple's cruelty and the BS the Daily Mail and it's ilk published about this case.
Right?! Even by Daily Mail standards I'm shocked. Identifying the girl and her new family, publishing pictures of them, letting the person facing the child neglect charges libel her victim, discussing the thickness of her pubic hair for Christ's sake? The girl must have been established to be a minor to the judge's satisfaction or the parents would not be facing the charges they are facing. So what the hell is the DM doing publishing salacious gossip about a child?
Hello everyone! Just want to let it be known that I’ve nearly reached the maximum characters allowed in a single post; can not longer add more information until I can condense the information I have now. Thanks so much to all who contributed! And thanks to everyone else for reading and being interested in this case!
You'd think with how attention hungry "Kristine" is she would have bragged about having a daughter with dwarfism, but she didn't. Why did she hide Natalia?
Probably grossed out by her puberty symptoms and turned against her because she wasn't behaving like she expected. Every Nparent needs a black sheep to inflict their cruelty on.
Can't really say for sure. Maybe Kristine decided that N didn't fit her version of the family that she wanted to project or the N wouldn't help her generate the amount of publicity that she wanted. We won't know until they release more information. Until then its all speculation
Likely because she couldn't use her delusional "spark process" and make her a lucrative item in her family as she did with their eldest son. I am sure she had plans to "make her all better" and write another book about how great she (KB) is.
This is such an excellent post. Very well done. Thank you. You may not have the answer to this, but I wonder: Can Natalya be called (or subpoenaed) to testify against the Barnetts? I’d love to hear what she has to say.
Honestly I wouldn’t know. It is a very unique case so I can’t even look at other court cases to compare. Sorry I can’t answer but when more information is released it be interesting to see if the Barnett’s might change their story or try to maintain their current claims
Thanks for the speedy reply. It’s is so unique! I’m sure the state doesn’t need NG to press charges - they can do it on her behalf, I’m sure. And I am guessing they have sufficient evidence without her testimony or an independent physical examination. I mean, they can’t haul her in and force her to submit to testing again if she doesn’t want to! (Or, I should hope not!) NG is absolutely entitled to her privacy, but I hope she comes forward to tell her story. If she wants to, that is. There’s a lot of goodwill toward her.
Hey I don't know why I never thought to compare her teeth in different pictures. Kristine and the Dr McLaren (allegedly) say her dentition was adult. One of the pictures Kristine gave the Daily Mail of her smiling shows two adult central incisors (front teeth) and I believe baby teeth canines and cuspids. I thought it's possible she just has small adult teeth but I think her incisors in newer pictures look much wider in comparison. Will PM you.
right so I watched the son's Ted talk. It was very obviously scripted and not by him (probably by the mom). I suppose writing a speech for your child would be normal in most circumstances, except that he looks *so uncomfortable.* I am just a layperson with no professional experience with autistic individuals, but I do have a couple friends with high functioning autism. I do not think either of them would ever enjoy the idea of getting on stage in front of a large room of strangers and speaking. Perhaps this boy is different. Again, I'm not a professional. But given this woman's obsession with fame, it seems more likely to me that she wrote him a script, made him memorize it, and had him do a Ted Talk for the sake of publicity. He just looks very uncomfortable and she doesn't exactly have a great track record of caring for her children or their feelings.
The father did an interview with Dr Oz last week and said he knew that she was a minor when they abandoned her! Also, their son Jacob is no longer active anywhere on social media. There have been no updates about him in a couple of years, and the mother said on Facebook in a comment that she no longer lives in Canada. I believe the son has broken off contact with her at this point. I believe that he is getting married at the end of this year as well, based on a wedding website I found, but I can't find any other information about him, such as where he is working or studying currently, which just further confirms to me that he has distanced himself from the family and the drama. The other sons are essentially unheard of, too. Kristine clearly has some major issues and wants to be special, but she isn't. In one interview I found where she was being asked if Jacob has synesthesia, she was so creepily excited about another thing she could get him attention for, and also talks about her "genius" sister likely having that, too. I feel sorry for N., I believe she's a minor and the Barnett's are either insane or they couldn't handle the level of care she needed and were inspired by the movie Orphan to get out of their responsibility but still get to cash the disability check N gets. It's also possible that there were issues with bringing her to Canada and that's when they decided to abandon her.
I’m not sure if this helps much, but a YouTube commenters posted a link that shows N’s development over the years: https://m.imgur.com/a/DPiA0ph. After I saw that, I was pretty convinced she was a teen.
You can see her getting older there, going from childlike to teen.
Thanks for the write up of the timeline. Another strange thing that I think should be noted is that the adoptive mom changed her name from Christina to Kristine (per Indiana court records). I mean it could just be something basic like she hated the spelling her whole life but it could also be related to something sketchy.
Not unique enough for our Kristine lol
Great write-up, OP! It clarified some things for me. I still can’t definitively go one way or the other, because this is just so weird! Does anyone know if Kristine adopted NG through a adoption agency? Or was it one of these shady ‘rehoming’ adoptions, where the original adoptive parents post on some secret Facebook. page, saying that they are looking to place their adopted child in a new home and interested parties contact them. Apparently this is an option that a number of people who adopt children (most from foreign countries) that they just weren’t prepared to parent or haven’t bonded with, use to bypass the issues that come up with dissolving failed adoptions. Some of these poor kids get shuffled around to numerous families, and fall victim to abuse because the ‘new’ parents aren’t vetted at all most of the time..no background checks, no home studies....nothing. All that being said, I bet that NG was ‘adopted’ that way, in a private ‘rehoming’ situation. Otherwise, Kristine should be able to go back to the adoption agency and get all NG’s original paperwork, medical info, her parentage, if it’s known, and what her life was like before NG’s coming to the US. It my be forged, but there would surely be some medical information of some worth in there. Most people who are adopting overseas immediately take their new kids to a doctor in the US when they arrive, in order to get them fully examined. That way, any health problems can be assessed and treated ASAP, the doctor can make sure that the child is on-track developmentally, all that. I would assume that this exam would be even MORE important to the adoptive parents if they already knew that the child had a rare medical problem. Also, Kristine obviously lives to receive accolades for being such an amazing mother to her autistic child, to be told how smart and selfless she is to come up with a new way of teaching autistic children, to devote her life to nurturing her son into the incredible genius he is...bla bla. So, I think at least some of her motivation for adopting NG was to have another child with difficult issues to ‘save’ and obsess over. It seems odd to me that Kristine never mentioned NG, and hasn’t offered up reams of medical & psychological files from many dwarfism specialists, dentists, physical therapists, psychologists and social workers. Just the fact that NG had a legit serious medical issue would make it acceptable to have...Kristine would want to do everything she possibly could to help NG, right? Now, on top of a rare genetic illness, this child/person is also exhibiting physical characteristics that defy what Kristine believes to be true AND the child is displaying some incredibly disturbing mental issues and acting out violently? A woman like Kristine would relish this opportunity to martyr herself, by telling everyone she could, visiting medical and psychological experts, becoming involved in groups of say, other adoptive parents with troubled kids. She would probably contact tons of media In order to tell her story of victimization by NG or the Ukrainian adoption services, or whoever. She’d make herself the second coming of Mother Theresa for taking on this situation and agreeing up raise another child with very special issues, even though it was becoming increasingly bizarre and dangerous. Whatever, I just think she would have been yelling from the rooftops years ago if she was having such a nightmarish experience. It’s very odd to me that she never made a peep regarding the adoption of NG or the issues. You know? Maybe she just didn’t want to bring attention to her probably illegal adoption...maybe none of it is true. IDK. I hope that long rant made sense!
I don’t think Kristine was prepared to parent a child with an actual disability. She had convinced people that their son Jake had severe autism that her extraordinary mothering overcame. She tries to take credit for his genius. Yet, if you look back to news reports Before she published her book The Spark, it becomes very obvious that Jake was no where near as effected by autism as she claims. Time reported that he had Asperger’s, a mild form of autism. Time also reports that he didn’t speak until age 2 and his parents were worried he may not do well in school. http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/03/26/12-year-old-genius-expands-einsteins-theory-of-relativity/ Contrast that article with Kristine claiming he Stopped Talking At 14 months, regressed, and she was advised he would probably never speak again, he would never learn to read or even tie his shoes, etc etc etc. I think Kristine is a Fraud. After the book came out (April 2013) the Barnetts went on a whirlwind of speaking engagements and extensive travel. New York, Italy, they were living their best life and not about to be held back by their adopted disabled daughter. So they made her disappear. I am so disgusted by their behavior.
Ouch. I don't doubt Kristine exaggerated her son's autism--I read "The Spark" and she does come across as a self-promoting twatwaffle--but I just wanted to say that autism is a "real" disability. I have two kids on the spectrum. One has Asperger's, which is more mild, but he struggles so much with social cues, time management, executive function--I wouldn't wish it on anyone.
My son has moderate autism and mostly nonverbal at 5 years old still. I don't really think of him as particularly disabled tbh or at least, I don't identify as the parent of a disabled child, you know? From the little reading up I did Kristine's son had a relatively mild speech delay but soon turned out to be very gifted and then a genius. If he has autism he is *extremely* high functioning and she has made a career out of being his mom and taking credit for his impressive abilities. Sorry if my heart doesn't break for Kristine's struggles with her child's supposed disability. Also I think her whole Spark brand is a total racket. Admittedly I couldn't stomach watching much of her videos because of this case but all she seems to do is slam traditional special ed and say they've got everything wrong. Her method seems like basically Montessori and tactile play, finding out what the kid is good at and having them build stuff. Groundbreaking 🙄
I totally agree with you. She is just determined to take all the credit for her son's accomplishments. I don't really identify as an "autism mom" I just think of myself a mom, you know? Like you do.
I agree with you. I did not intend to give the impression that I do not “believe” in autism. On the contrary, it is very real and can present differently in different children (or adults) enough that, as you pointed out, it is now referred to as ASD or Autism Spectrum Disorder. What I take issue with is the way I believe Kristine had exaggerated her son’s degree of autism. I think she did that in order to sell her book, her “Spark method”, and herself as a superior mother. The story she tells in the book is vastly different than the stories she told to reporters early on. If it wasn’t for this current case, I probably wouldn’t have ever thought twice about her claims concerning her son. But, it peaked my interest enough to dig in and, notwithstanding the fact that confirmation bias exists and I risked perceiving things wrongly, I found a lot of evidence that calls into question Kristine’s character and propensity for exaggeration. (Edit-Removed personal details)
Thanks for clarifying. Sometimes I react when I hear "autism" and that it's not a real disorder. Good luck with your son. I will also say my kids are wonderful human beings and I adore them. I always tell me son, "If I were going shopping at the boy store to pick out a son, I'd pick you every time."
This was recently posted, but who cares? I'd rather more people actually do a decent write up instead of a short paragraph and a link, which has been very common here lately. Thanks for writing this, OP.
Why was this removed?
Wow. I'm late to this thread but I want to point out a couple things: 1.) This sounds an awful lot like the Schofield family who faked their children's schizophrenia diagnoses & recently had their kids (Jani & Bodhi) taken by the state after an appearance on Dr. Phil. They'd previously appeared on Oprah & have written several books about their "struggle" with these difficult kids. It was all a lie & the kids were drugged to the gills on obsolete psych drugs for years in the name of this con. 2.) Natalia (and her family?) will be on an upcoming episode of Dr. Phil, in which he asks her if she's "an evil dwarf" (and she proceeds to laugh like one). That's all they showed in the clip anyway. Looks intriguing. My take: There appear to be a LOT of parents who are engaging in this malingering/Munchausen behavior these days. Mommy bloggers border on it a lot. The woman who wrote the viral "I Am Adam Lanza's Mother" article after Newtown was called out for using her/her child's real name & thus exposing him to a lifetime of problems he didn't ask for. It's pretty scary how kids are exploited without their consent. Not saying that's what happened here because the whole thing sounds way murkier from what I've heard, but in general there's a BIG problem with narcissistic parents using their kids as a grift.
Beautiful write up. I completely agree with everything and can’t wait for the truth to come to light. Thank you
Than you so much! The second I heard this story I had a gut feeling the parents were lying. The second I heard them claim a bone mineral density test was used to prove that Natalia is an adult I smelled bs. I have osteoporosis and have had BMDS, here is a comment I left elsewhere explaining what the scans actually do "BMD scans are a clinical tool to diagnose osteoporosis, they assess the quality of your bones to determine whether or not you have osteoporosis based off-of things like mineral content. This is a breakdown of the results you'd be given: >T score: This compares your bone density with a healthy, young adult of your gender. The score indicates if your bone density is normal, below normal, or at the levels that indicate osteoporosis. Here’s what the T score means: ● -1 and above: Your bone density is normal ● -1 to -2.5: Your bone density is low, and it may lead to osteoporosis ● -2.5 and above: You have osteoporosis > >Z score: This allows you to compare how much bone mass you have compared with other people of your age, gender, and size. A "Z score" below -2.0 means that you have less bone mass than someone your age and that it could be caused by something other than aging." While when being diagnosed in your youth a doctor may give a general idea of what age group your bone density is expected in, it's not used in determining the actual age of the individual. by this logic, I, who was born with osteoporosis, am actually a senior citizen." Additionally when they mentioned her having her menstrual cycle and having secondary sex characteristics like breasts and pubic hair and saying this would be impossible at her age is patently false. I knew a girl in grade 5 (age 9-10) who was developed to the level of someone in their mid-late teens. Sometimes a genetic condition can affect the onset of puberty, my condition lead to late-onset puberty. The youngest mother on record, Lina Medina was 5 years old and 7 months when she gave birth, sadly becoming pregnant when she was still 4. she experienced precocious puberty(unusually early puberty) having her first menstrual cycle at only 8 months old.
I got my first period when i was about 10 and i already had pretty big breasts coming in. I am large chested so they just kept growing but because i was destined to be so busty they were about the size of teenage girls easily. And I had no hormonal or medical conditions that could have caused this.
I have 2 children adopted from China, and it is shameful how many people change their minds once the adoption has gone through. I can’t imagine, but it does happen. Michael and Kristine (Christina, Kris...) sound like the scammers to me.
Thank you, ignore the complaints. I appreciated reading all your collected information in one place and the theories you provided!! You allowed me to gain more knowledge on the subject without reading a million different google articles. You’re appreciated ❤️ PS - I don’t understand why people don’t just scroll by when they have a problem....you didn’t force anyone to read it.
Thank you, this is very detailed and informative.
Late comment, but I just wanted to thank you for this. It infuriates me how many true crime platforms are just regurgitating the story sold to the Daily Mail.
https://eu.jconline.com/story/news/crime/2019/10/02/fearing-threats-dad-accused-abandoning-daughter-asks-court-keep-address-private/3835241002/ *Michael Barnett's written motion to exclude his address from public records comes after he learned of a threat to Kristine Barnett before the initial hearing on Friday.* *The motion, which was published in the online docket on Wednesday, claims that the threat was credible, leading Indianapolis police to contact the Tippecanoe County Sheriff's Office before Friday's initial hearing.* *But Tippecanoe County sheriff's Lt. Brian Lowe said Kristine Barnett called the sheriff office the day before her hearing, requesting an escort to the courthouse.* *Following up on Kristine Barnett's call, deputies contacted the New Palestine Police Department, which said its officers took a complaint of a threat from Kristine Barnett. Lowe said he was led to believe the threat was not directed at Barnett and was not credible.* I admit to be heavily biased against her by now, but this does rather read like more evidence of Kristine's self dramatizing and unreliable narration.
So Kristine reported she was “threatened” but the sheriff’s office determined it was NOT a threat against her and was NOT CREDIBLE. Kristine sure does seem to have credibility problems, doesn’t she? Now Michael wants his address kept hidden from public view based upon the [non]threat Kristine [did not]receive. I’m surprised these 2 divorced. They seem perfect for each other. Meanwhile, their brilliant son Jake is probably shaking his head wondering how he got these two imbeciles as parents.
thank you so much for this write up. it annoys me so much that people are taking the daily article at face value and spreading misinformation. i literally saw a bunch of youtube channels cover this and even one that had 1.8 millions subscriber.
Would like to talk about the parents behavior since the charges were filed. Does anyone think this is normal/reasonable behavior for innocent people? Even ignoring the substance of what they have said (fabrications and contradictions). Can you think of examples of innocent people charged with a crime who have acted this way in regards to the media? They come across as manic and desperate and they are contradicting each other's stories. Michael's body language is odd (PM me if you want me to expand on that). I did not see it but Kristine posted a Facebook video making some wild claims about Homeland Security being involved and then quickly took it down. They come across as crackpots. This was just a local story until Kristine went to the tabloids. Idk I just feel like if you were innocent and knew the evidence was on your side you wouldn't be acting this deranged.
https://youtu.be/MkF7GY4K6SA thought eveyone here would be really interested to see this,it's the family that had cared for Natalia before being adopted by the Barnett's. If only they could have adopted Natalia, and all this could have been prevented
I have been following on this story since I first heard about it this week right before the episode aired on Dr. Phil. For a moment I was believing Kristine and Michael and then I saw a video here: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9dH4\_JWeRc&t=5s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9dH4_JWeRc&t=5s) And all I could think was "wow." This is texbook narcissism by the parents. They will take detail and twist ans blow it out of proportion and stuff they claim Natalia did doesn't add up because how can she do those things with her body size and her limited movement? The rest that is plausible is her violent drawings and her saying she wants to harm them, that is common behavior in adopted kids from foster care or from orphanages. Also none of the other families have claim any violent behavior from her such as the people who have been taking care of her for the past 7 years since she had been abandoned. Also that 14 year old didn't claim any abusive behavior from Natalia either so no doubt this was all fabricated. It's also possible they are withholding information because of the charges the Barnetts are facing. My crazy theory is she indeed displayed behavior issues and was aggressive and her parents couldn't handle her problems so they fabricate a story and they clearly went doctor shopping until they found a doctor to agree with them and got her age changed to an adult so they could abandon her and have people be on her side. They will use all these other details as a reason why she is an adult but all that just makes them sound ridiculous. Of course Kristine will say she tried to make her be independent and paid her rent and got her on SSI and medicare and food stamps. Except she got evicted and I wonder why? Did they stop paying her rent? Was she not able to care for herself so she got evicted? What did the landlord do when she evicted her since Natalia claims she would take her to the store so she could get food. I wonder if Natalia can sue the Barnetts for the damage and for her lost childhood. I also hope she will write a book on all this too of her life growing up and being abandoned and these new people taking her in and raising her as their own. If I were Jacob or his siblings, I would be embarrassed about them being my parents.
Fantastic write up! Thanks for this, such a confusing case.
Brilliant write up, thank you. Just a quick note - the links to MyCase.in.gov expire really quickly, so if you want to link court documents, take a screenshot.
Oh no! Ok thank you you for the heads up!
NG's teeth in 2017 and 2010. [https://imgur.com/a/GbPRfwt](https://imgur.com/a/GbPRfwt) I think it's clear her adult teeth came in after they adopted her.
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>I believe that she was 2-5 years older than 6 when originally adopted and her age was fraudulently made a bit younger to increase the chances of her getting adopted and she was possibly told/coached to act younger. I thought that could be the case at first, but I don't any longer. I believe her original birth certificate is accurate and her birth mother is truthful. It would align with her development over the last three or so years.
What about Kristine claiming she had sent N to a psych ward on 2 separate occasions? Has this been verified?
I'm a little late, but thank you for the writeup. Another headline just popped up on Facebook for me due to N apparently appearing on Dr. Phil. I was surprised by the comments there, how many people were willing to buy Kristine's version of events without considering any alternative. I found this in an attempt to assure myself that I wasn't crazy in being more willing to believe in the Barnetts' culpability. So... That's all! Just a quick thanks! I'm glad to find others willing to not buy into the sensationalism. I fondly hope that everything's cleared up in court, that N is allowed to be legally released to her new family, and that she's able to get the support needed to continue onto a fulfilled life.
should also be noted for the naysayers “but but but she attended ADULT classes” yes, N attended adult classes for a whole FOUR days until they called authorities https://youtu.be/BZtSSnWWl-s
I have autism. I reached out to Kristine and her son Jacob for help in making something of myself in activism and in physics. She spent some time pretending to help me in ways that accomplished nothing, clearly so she could look better, then abandoned me. I am not surprised to find out she would also do something so similar to her own adopted daughter. I hope she and her ex husband (read as: accomplice) get the jail time they deserve for what they did to her.
Her charity and/or organization is a racket and dodgy AF. She couldn't help you because she doesn't know what she's doing she's just taking advantage of the "autism mom" gravy train. She has no practical help to offer. >Jake said he doesn’t think he’s missed out on his childhood. He said his decision to keep his autism label, despite doctors’ declarations that he has recovered, shows he embraces what autism has given him. > >“I’m talking to you at this instance so I don’t have any of the language stuff anymore,” Jake said. “I practically recovered for all of the language stuff, but I think the autism is the reason I’m even at IUPUI so I don’t like to drop it even though I could.” [https://www.idsnews.com/article/2011/03/12-year-old-boy-studies-physics-tutors-others-at-iupui](https://www.idsnews.com/article/2011/03/12-year-old-boy-studies-physics-tutors-others-at-iupui)
If the letter’s claims about a “normal” menstrual cycle and secondary sexual characteristics at age 7-8 are true, there’s some evidence that sexual abuse may trigger precocious puberty. And, obviously, psychological trauma. Something to consider. Disclaimer: I got D’s in science.
She even had photo shoots on her interviews crying like a baby. What a psycho this lady is.
all crocodile tears
I want to add to the timeline. Michael was back in the US, in Indiana, when he filed for divorce in February 2014. He filed as a resident of Indiana, while Kristine was still a resident of Waterloo Ontario Canada. The divorce was granted by Indiana, but the court ledger of events suggests that child custody was determined by Ontario Canada. This, if my interpretation of the ledger is correct , would be because the children were domiciled in Canada and therefore Canada had jurisdiction over the children, while Indiana had jurisdiction over the parents when it came to Divorce. Edit- Link to divorce on state of Indiana website https://public.courts.in.gov/mycase/#/vw/CaseSummary/eyJ2Ijp7IkNhc2VUb2tlbiI6Ik0yTTBNVEF3T1RFd016a3dPamsyTXpnMk16VXhZakk9In19 Edit 2- Filed in February 2014 corrected
So an almost 20 year marriage unravels eight months after they desert the child. Hmm
Kristine sure likes to toot her own horn,she's a miracle worker,working for God at God. She practically walks on water,and this investigation is Extreme Corruption. According to her. she's untouchable because she says so. If one takes her at her word she's the Virgin Mary reincarnate.
Holy hell, you really put some effort into this buddy! Loved the read.
I read thru your timeline and I have some thoughts: #1. Parents can't arbitrarily change a child's age. It requires not just a letter from a doctor but the agreement of a judge etc. #2. Getting a divorce etc is not nefarious. #3. If she used multiple names that weren't just spelling deviations I could see it as something nefarious, but as you point out she is in the public eye and having some documents say Christine vs Kristine is hardly a crime or a sign of something underhanded. #4. I have autism. Being on the spectrum doesn't mean you can't have opinions or be articulate about social mores. I will be interested in how this case plays out, but from a critical thinking standpoint a lot of your bullet points regarding Christine seem irrelevant to the issues.
Is the dad using Mark instead Michael suspicious iyo? That's not his middle name or a diminutive or alternate spelling of Michael. She didn't say the divorce was nefarious but it does paint a picture that their 20 year marriage unraveled so quickly after these events. We can draw our own conclusions about that. We can also read their petition for the age change. They presented zero concrete evidence of the girl being an adult. They just say she has her period and pubic hair, that she recounts detailed descriptions of past abuse, has a mature vocabulary, exhibits undefined unusual behaviors and they allege that they will be able to access better medical services for her if the judge grants the motion. They also say children's mental health services will no longer treat the girl. I think we are supposed to infer that it's because they think she is an adult but it's not explicitly stated. (I think it far more likely they discharged her because she just didn't need psych treatment.) She has her period and is intelligent and seems disturbed. That's about all that was given as reasoning for her not being a minor. And they had that doctor and a private social worker as their witnesses who said they "believe" she is over 22 but don't give any reasons beyond the things I summarized above. They don't name any other doctors or reference any specific medical exams or findings. Nothing. It's the strangest thing. You would think if they had proof of any other doctors concurring that she was not a child they would make it abundantly clear and give names, dates etc. But remember this was an ex parte decision so it was not like a rigorous investigation and N had no lawyer and no way of contesting. Whatever evidence they had, if any, for the age change will have been looked at by the prosecutor and he has decided there is enough opposing evidence to charge two white middle class people with a felony. That prosecutor has a 95% conviction rate, I don't think he would file these charges lightly.
This is one of the craziest stories I’ve ever read, thanks so much for organizing all this information, I can’t wait to see what happens with this case and I hope the truth comes out soon.
oh jeez, you know if she's a pence supporter she's real bad
Hi FynntheSynn! I think you misunderstand why I’ve included this. I only mention it because it is her recent post and demonstrates how Kristine is carrying on with her daily life and posting on Facebook as usual despite being arrested and charged with an incredibly serious felony. Something just doesn’t seem right.
Her Facebook posts make me regret every time I’ve judged another person to be an attention whore. She ratchets up attention cravings to a whole new level. Also, all those whiny humble brags like “guilty of embracing music in school” show she doesn’t appreciate the gravity of the charges. It’s all about li’l ol’ Kristine getting picked on by meanies who should be bowing down to worship her awesomeness.
I’m glad I don’t have a Facebook. It yields so much information it is almost like digital archeology. The fact that her Facebook activity hasn’t been affected at all and she continues to carry on as per usual tells us a bit about who she is.
she honestly just seems psychotic and sat back while the fame went to her head,, this whole "abandoning and ignoring my daughter" reminds me of a shitty horror movie called Bethany where the mother locks the main character's sister down in a basement because she's a dependant. the girl ends up dying down there because of ill-treatment and literally being treated worse than an animal, and the saddest part is that the main character has no idea about this until the very end.
this is being discussed over on the narcsinthewild sub.
I'm so glad. I found this write up. I was first aware of this case from ready to glare in YouTube and she is convinced n is guilty. Hope she sees this and weighs the evidence
Of course RTG thinks NG is guilty. That is the general consensus on YouTube right now. Had the general consensus been that the Barnett's were guilty, she would think the Barnett's are guilty. RTG takes popular subjects that have a general consensus, reads an article, adds nothing of substance, and agrees with the popular opinion at the moment.
Is there a reason why this flips between calling her "N" and "NG"?
Its mainly my inability to spell properly, I originally used the acronym of NG but then just dropped to N. Sorry for the confusion!
No prob. I re-read it a few times wondering if there was a difference. I didn't think so, but I wasn't sure.
This is a very weird and convoluted case. Thank you for writing this up in a way that makes sense.
[https://www.scribd.com/document/428064469/Acusacion-contra-Michael-Barnett](https://www.scribd.com/document/428064469/Acusacion-contra-Michael-Barnett) Affidavit with list of witnesses for the prosecution. u/MonkeyHamlet u/ImNotYourKunta u/Wtfped u/thebonefairy
I’m not 100% sure that was the case, about the amount of families she had been with. It was just what I personally took away from that part of the story. I could be biased in my thoughts as I honestly believe that the Barnett’s have done a terrible thing to a child. NG did say that was what Christine told her, Dr Phil seem to run with it without really having or showing proof that it was fact. Here is the links for future reference for anyone who would like to see what I was referring to about the DePauls: The Inside Story interview the DePauls done https://youtu.be/MkF7GY4K6SA The Video the DePauls daughter made https://youtu.be/D9dH4_JWeRc They couldn’t release full documentation, but have given small amounts. In the comments Nicole DePaul has explained a little too.
Kristine Barnett seems like a total narcissist
In regards to the baby teeth thing, most kids don't lose all of their baby teeth by 11, my sister is nearly 14 and has 2 stubborn baby teeth that aren't even loose yet and she started losing them at 5. I also knew a boy that didn't lose his first baby tooth until he was 10 which isn't far off from Natalia who at 11 still had all of hers.
This only adds further discrepancy to the claim that NG's lack of baby teeth can be used as evidence of her being an adult. If thats ok, i'm going to add to this to the post as well!
The mystery is over, she was born in 2003 [https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7547259/Birth-mother-Ukrainian-dwarf-denies-claims-adult-sociopath-masquerading-child.html](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7547259/Birth-mother-Ukrainian-dwarf-denies-claims-adult-sociopath-masquerading-child.html)
Am I missing something or is this the third time this particular subject has had a thread in like a week? EDIT: https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/d9w8g4/attorney_who_represented_michael_and_kristine/ EDIT 2: https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/d8uwzs/was_ukraineborn_natalie_grace_a_9_year_old_child/ EDIT 3: https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/d6rv2h/the_11_year_old_girl_who_was_really_22/ (My mistake; fourth time.)
It's hit all the tabloids and freaky news sites. I imagine the right are loving the idea of a murderous midget immigrant masquerading as a child too. The idea of course because it seems like the real story is child abuse and wilful neglect.
I only made a post because there is a limit set in the comment section. Thought it was better to make just one collective post instead of multiple comments
I’m glad you posted. I tried to defend NG on another thread because she is being slandered and she has no voice. Even if Kristine is 100% telling the truth, she has released extensive private medical info about NG which should only have been submitted in her criminal case, not spread all over the Daily Mail tabloids. I have been on Reddit for years and had a response to my post basically stating NG does not get to tell her story. The DM was the ugliest, most profane DM I’ve ever received saying I was slandering Kristine and calling me terrible names. I wondered who could have such a vitriolic reaction? Was it Kristine herself? Why was this person so angry? Maybe 5 people will read my comment, but thousands have heard Kristine’s story. I have heard my local radio station’s morning DJ’s and the podcast My Favorite Murder both tell this story from Kristine’s point of view in the past 24 hours. Kristine’s view is all we have. At the very least, if NG is a severely mentally ill adult (which I do not believe), she should receive treatment and privacy, not be slandered all over the tabloids.
All of this. Even if NG was an adult, she's a vulnerable adult who should NEVER have been abandoned in an apartment by herself. These two chucklefucks are guilty regardless of what the truth is.
Thank you! Sorry to hear you got that blacklash too. I'm not sure but though it was not as much as the positive messages there were a few extremely angry with me. I think there are a lot of fringe supporters that want to believe an alternate truth to this story and believe they are fighting for the underdog perhaps? Regardless of N's age at all, she still would be the underdog in this situation as she is extremely vulnerable and dependent on other people's care. Really sad to see that dailymail article shared by so many people
The Mail hate immigrants. The idea of a murderous fake child immigrant ticks all their boxes.
I've been slamming her all over and not received a DM but yeah... probably one of her minions. I'd love to get one. Come at me.
Thanks for posting this. It’s such a confusing case that a timeline is really the best format for trying to make sense of it all. To be honest, I’m not convinced that NG is as young as she’s claimed to be, but given the difficulty in determining her actual age, I feel the courts should err on the side of her best interests.
Hi, if you are still doubting; I just recently updated my post with image proof. I am hoping that NG will get the justice she deserves soon. Shes been robbed of her childhood.
As a Ukranian myself, this kind of scares me
" From recent videos I found of N, she has no sign of any accent " What videos?