Indiana Couple Claims Adopted Daughter From Ukraine Really Adult With Dwarfism, Tried to Kill Family

This story has Lifetime movie written all over it. Adoption. Abandonment. International intrigue.

The daughter at the at the middle of the bizarre saga — Natalia Grace Barnett, whose parents from Indiana claim is actually a Ukrainian adult female with dwarfism posing as a child — is scheduled to tell her side of the story Thursday on the "Dr. Phil" testify.

"Are you lot a 33-yr-old scam artist?" Dr. Phil McGraw asks in prune provided from the show.

"I guess it comes down to whether or not yous are an evil psychopath demon child that'south come over here to murder everybody," he says in another prune.

"I just want people to hear my side," Natalia Grace says.

"They say that you scammed them. That you lied virtually your age and came over here and terrorized them," McGraw says.

"Information technology's not true at all," says Natalia Grace, shedding tears.

Natalia Grace now lives with another Indiana couple and their five children, the Mans family unit, according to the DailyMail.com. Antwon Mans, 36, is ordained every bit a pastor and lives in a quondam church parsonage with his wife Cynthia, 39, and children.

"Were you at all concerned, at the time, that we could be putting the children ... in jeopardy," McGraw asks Cynthia and Antwon Mans.

"Nosotros are supposed to help," Cynthia Mans responds. "Me and my husband adopted these kids. It's like who would do information technology if you lot don't."

A family friend told the DailyMail she considered the Mans family to be "Good Samaritans" who wanted to help an abandoned child.

"They only and then happened to come up across this person that was non being treated correct and cared enough to put in the effort to make sure something was done about information technology," she said.

Where it all began

Prosecutors say that, in June 2010, Kristine and Michael Barnett adopted an 8-year-old girl with dwarfism born in Ukraine.

The Barnetts, however, said they institute Natalia Grace actually was a woman and posed every bit a child when they adopted her. They changed her age to 22 before moving to Canada in summertime 2013 without her. Michael Barnett, however, told law in 2019 that he believed the girl was a child, non an adult, when they left her, according to an affirmation.

The story has made international headlines equally the parents, who are at present divorced, face charges of neglect, 6 years afterward prosecutors say they abased their adoptive daughter in Lafayette, Indiana.

Here'south what we know

According to an affidavit, Natalia Grace told a sheriff's deputy in September 2014 that she came to the U.S. in 2008 as office of an adoption program.

She said she had a form of dwarfism known as spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia congenita. The disorder is known for causing skeletal abnormalities, and on occasion, vision and hearing issues.

Natalia Grace told police force the Barnetts adopted her in 2010.

Child abandonment or murderous scam?Bizarre case of Ukrainian adoption gone wrong

What the Barnetts say happened

The Daily Postal service reported in September that Kristine Barnett said she began to doubtable that her daughter was older than the adoption agency said afterward bringing her domicile.

Michael Barnett reiterated that during an appearance on the "Dr. Oz" show in October, adding that Natalia Grace threatened to kill Kristine and the family's iii biological children.

Kristine Barnett confronted Natalia Grace after catching her pouring household cleaner into her coffee, Michael Barnett said.

Girl'due south age tested, then changed

The affidavit stated that children'southward hospital records bear witness a dr. examined the Barnetts' daughter and approximated her to exist eight in 2010.

The hospital conducted a skeletal survey in 2012 and approximated her age as being 11.

In some other clip provided by the "Dr. Phil" evidence, Natalia Grace denies getting an earlier bone scan.

"They merits that they did bone scans and all that," she said."I don't remember going through a bone scan. I remember going through a bone browse in Michigan."

"And the bone scan in Michigan said she was xiv," Cynthia Mans says.

"I even have paperwork saying that," Natalia Grace says.

In June 2012, the Barnetts legally changed the girl's nascence record to indicate she was born in 1989, not 2003, every bit her Ukrainian records indicated. Today, she is legally 30.

According to an affidavit, Michael Barnett told authorities in Sept. 2019 that his wife told their daughter to say she was 22 if anyone asked and to explicate that she looked immature for her historic period.

Worldwide attention

In March 2011, the Indianapolis Star featured the Barnetts' eldest son, Jacob, in a front-page story. At the age of 12, he was already studying physics and developing his own theories of relativity at Indiana University — Purdue University Indianapolis.

National interest followed the story of a kid prodigy with balmy autism, including a segment on CBS News' "60 Minutes" and an invitation to give his ain TED talk the following twelvemonth. His mother also wrote "The Spark," a volume virtually raising a kid genius.

By 2013, the Barnetts' son had been accepted to study and brainstorm working toward a doctorate degree at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.

The family did not accept Natalia Grace with them to Canada, but Michael Barnett denied that his family unit abandoned the girl.

"There was no running to Canada," Barnett said on "Dr. Oz."

In a 2019 interview with constabulary, Michael said they connected to pay the Natalia Grace's rent but not for any other living expenses.

Divorce and eviction

In February 2014, Michael filed for divorce from Kristine. That same year, Natalia Grace was evicted from her flat, telling government four months afterward that she had not seen her family since they left the land.

A former neighbour near her residence remembered that the daughter attended classes at Lafayette Developed Resource University.

"She quit coming to class, and we didn't know what happened to her," Margaret Axsom said.

Charges and a trial date

Kristine Barnett and Michael Barnett are under a gag order barring them from disclosing negative or adverse, derogatory extrajudicial comments pertaining to the case. The gag club also covered prosecutors and defense attorneys. It was amended Fri to apply to Natalia Grace.

Both parents pleaded not guilty during an initial hearing. A trial appointment has been set up for Jan. 28.

Contributing: Nate Chute and Ron Wilkins, Lafayette Journal and Courier. Follow Amy Huschka on Twitter: @aetmanshuschka

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Source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/11/07/ukraine-child-adoption-natalia-grace-barnett-tells-dr-phil-her-story/2517608001/

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