Michael and Kristine Barnett were already parents of three when they wanted to expand their family. Due to health problems, the woman could not get pregnant again, so adoption turned out to be the solution. In 2008, the couple met Natalia Grace, who comes from Ukraine. A girl suffering from dwarfism immediately stole their hearts, which is why they decided to take her under their roof.
Adoption was supposed to be their dream come true. Then the real nightmare began
Adoption procedures lasted over two years. After all, the Barnetts officially became the parents of the girl, and she became a member of the family. Initially, there was no indication that this was the beginning of a real ordeal. Already during the first bath, Kristine was concerned about the girl’s too mature appearance. On another occasion, she found traces of blood on her underwear, indicating that she had had her period. This alarmed the woman, who began to watch the 7-year-old’s behavior more and more carefully. – I was in shock. I was just told she was seven and it was very obvious she wasn’t – the woman in the Daily Mail.
Worrying signs began to appear more and more often. Eventually, Natalia began to show aggression towards her adoptive parents and siblings. She drew the whole family in a pool of blood, and also woke them up at night by standing by their beds with a knife. It even got to the point that Kristine put bleach in her coffee, and on another occasion tried to push her over an electric fence. “She jumped out of a moving car, smeared blood on the mirrors,” the man reported.
The Barnetts fell victim to a scam. Natalia was not who she claimed to be
Fearing for their safety and the safety of their children, the Barnetts turned to specialists to determine the girl’s true age. Her bone density was measured, and based on this, it was assumed that she was not 7 years old, as indicated by her birth certificate, but 14 years old or even older. It was then that the decision was made to place her in a closed ward of a psychiatric institution, and the Marion County Superior Court agreed to modify the birth certificate, changing the date to September 4, 1989. In the meantime, the couple moved to Canada, but that was not the end of their nightmare.
In 2019, the “MailOnline” portal reached the biological mother of the girl, Anna Volodymyrivna Gava, who categorically denied any fraud. As a result, the couple ended up in the dock, being responsible for the neglect and abandonment of their adoptive daughter. After the experts analyzed the collected evidence, at the end of 2022 the charges were dropped and the case was discontinued. “The media portrayed us as child abusers, but there is no child here. All the doctors confirmed that Natalia suffered from a serious mental illness, which is diagnosed only in adults – desperate Michael.
Everything indicates, however, that the Barnetts fell victim to a scam, and Natalia’s birth certificate was probably forged just before she left Ukraine. Based on the tragic family history, the documentary “The Curious Case of Natalia Grace” was created, which will air on Investigation Discovery.
Source: Gazeta
Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
