This account is about a young woman by the name of Natalia Barnett who has been accused by her adoptive parents of faking her age in order to be adopted.
Natalia is an orphan from the Ukraine who was born with dwarfism and other medical issues such as scoliosis. She is originally fostered by an American couple, who eventually gave her up for adoption at age six. She was subsequently adopted by another American couple from Indiana Kristine and Michael Barnett in 2010.
They were both indicted on Felony Neglect charges because they had Natalia live by herself in an apartment while still a child. She was allegedly only 7 years old when she first moved into the first apartment. They told her they were going to live in Canada to support their prodigy son while he attended University.
The Barnetts maintain that because they believed she was an adult, that she could look after herself. Michael Barnett set her up and paid for apartment which included rent and provided food for a year. Natalia learned how to use a microwave and entertain herself.
She even attended an adult educational institute nearby for a short time. No one imagined her to be so young.
The Barnetts claim that Natalia was an adult trying to pass as a child and that she deliberately tried to find a family to harass. So as a result they had Natalia’s status as a child revoked and reinstated as being almost 20 years older than what her papers said she was when they first adopted her.
They did this by having doctors declare her as having her birthdate set in the mid 1990’s. They also took this to the courts and won a suit alleging her to be an adult.
First Alleged Duping of the Couple
Kristine believes that when she bathed Natalia the first time, she noticed that Natalia had pubic hair, which is the main indicator that she was an adult. Michael made a huge deal of this in subsequent video tapings.
They also alleged that Natalia threatened to kill all of them at different stages while she was living with them. They also claim that she hid knives all over the place, under pillows and up top of a fridge. However, many have noted why a person who has dwarfism would opt to place knives in such an area. Natalia herself stated to Dr Phil the famous forensic psychologist that she was too short to reach above the fridge.
Kristine denies the claims and says she and Michael were victims of a fraud, claiming the girl they adopted was an adult con artist who tried to kill her.
Both Kristine and Michael have been charged because Tippecanoe County Sheriff’s Department allege that Natalia was a child when they ‘abandoned’ her in 2013 and not a child.
Kristine maintains that this was a mission of love, but that love turned sour when Natalia allegeally began to threaten family members. Michael Barnett alleges that Natalia bought special toys for her adopted brothers and while they were walking in the middle of the street, she threw the toys into oncoming traffic.
Michael says that Natalia wanted her brothers to run into traffic so they can get run over. That is how sadistic they say she was. Natalia says that that incident never happened.
Another incident in which Kristine alleges is that while walking in the middle of a farm along a trail that Natalia tried to hurt Kristine by pushing her onto an electric fence. The problem was, is that electric fences of this kind are not designed to kill or maim, they are there to shock animals to move away from the fence.
Another couple who knew Natalia believes that she never pushed them, because her size wouldn’t be big enough to push a regular sized woman onto a fence.
Natalia is now living with another couple who take very good care of her. They were featured on Dr Phil explaining their situation.
There is still speculation as to whether Natalia is still a grown woman after all. Many look at her and automatically tell themselves that this young woman can’t possibly be 16 years old. That she sounds too mature.
Here’s an example from a forum from an article about case form The Oprah Magazine.
There is something really wrong with this entire story. That is no 16 year old. And for her to even think anyone would believe she was between 6-8 when she had her own apartment is ludicrous. She is way to articulate for someone who claims to be 16. She is in her late 20’s-early 30’s. As for the so called new adoptive parents…absolutely no way do I believe the husband supports his wife concerning that so called “kid”. And with 2 previous adoptive families giving her up, something is majorly wrong.
I believe that because she’s been through so much trauma and had so many false starts in life that instead of letting this break her, she’s rallied through and become a stronger person instead.
Yes Natalia is very articulate and confident on stage but that does not make her a fraud nor does it make her a 33 year old woman and makes her an incredible young woman actually. Na
It’s that old adage, “What doesn’t break you, makes you stronger.”
My take on this is that because she is definitely much younger in the first photo taken with the Barnetts when she was first adopted That she really was the 6 year old girl that they first adopted. Also in that photo, Natalia looked 6 years old she was very tiny. She had a round face, round cheeks and she had definite baby teeth of a six-year-old.
The following photo has Natalia when she was 6 years old with another couple Vincent and Nicole DuPaul who wanted to adopt Natalia before the Barnetts did. They stipulate that Natalia was always a little child and never an adult and they find it ridiculous that people have come to this assertion.
Natalia at six years old. Notice those baby teeth people I don’t see an adult there.
Where is Natalia Now?
According to Dr. Oz, Natalia is now living with another family in Indiana, who in 2016 petitioned to be Natalia’s guardians. But to make that happen, they needed her old birth records, and that process required contacting the Barnetts.
The following is a transcript of my body language reading of this account.
Example of Transcript of The Body Language Video
Dr Phill: What did they do to you when they took you over there? I’ll get you the apartment and go to Canada, she raises the eyebrows Oh nodding the head raised the eyebrows and opened the eyes, she is saying believe me.
It’s not contrived. She would put pins on our stairs, when we walk up and down stairs be stepping up okay she would put thumbtacks on our stairs. she would that’s a qualifying statement it’s like saying she might put tacks on the steps instead of saying she did put tacks on the step so, that’s a little bit of an orange flag for me with this man. Now you notice it he does a lot of blinking and elongated blinking to me03:46. That’s a couple of more orange flags, although I have watched another video of him years ago and he does seem to blink quite a bit and it could be the way he rolls.
Dr Phill: Did you ever stand at the foot of their bed and watch them sleep with a knife in your hand? “No.” Never did you ever want to stab them “.”No”.
Now if you look at her actual features her bones who density, yes she’s a dwarf and she looks very mature for her age but keep in mind she’s wearing something that makes her look older. Like it’s usually a woman in thier 20’s onwards who’d be wearing something like this and she is 16. So she’s not dressed as a typical sixteen year old might dress in the situation.
Dr Phil: They would have like nanny cam footage hidden camera footage of you standing at the foot of the bed, holding a knife in your hand. If they would have produced right and that’s an interesting point, they haven’t been able to produce that nanny cam footage. Now if they could prove that she was standing there with a knife then they’ve got an absolute point and most felony should be dropped,df but they haven’t got the footage.
She said you tried to push her into an electric fence. Natalia: It was the youngest birthday so we went to the farm because he likes cows and then we started walking, I got like quarter of the way and sat down because my legs hurt really bad, so Kristy had Michael and the boys go up ahead of us. She sat down next to me it was like that’s how you need to get up. So she got up and she was helping me and trying to help me get up but I fell and she fell with me. The electric fence wasn’t that far.
I can tell you from experience electric fences on farms they’ll give you a bit of a jolt but they won’t damage your body. That’s like a big sting and it’s annoying but it’s not enough to kill you.
Dr Phil: So you guys fell and she said you? Natalia: “Yes” .
How long has she been with you both? (New adoptive parents) Well six years so.
Dr Phil: That’s an important point these guys have been with her for six years almost seven that’s the second a lot of adopted parents who’ve held her for a long time. You two met her on the neighbor’s fence.
New Parent: “Yes and my friend called me and was like you need to come down here right away so I’m over there and she said she’s telling me she’s 22 like look at her he’s not 22.
TD: All right if you look at her body I mean I’m actually looking at her chest, I’m not seeing any development. Yeah I’m not seeing a chest with boobs or anything I mean when I look at this picture I see a child with no development on her chest. I mean she could be dressed like that to make herself look like a child but for me at the moment it’s looking like a child. This is probably a picture where you could say oh no this is it this is an adult and it could because she’s got definitely got adult teeth here. This could be baby teeth around here you, never know it’s hard to ascertain because remember she has dwarfism and scoliosis as well which is curvature of the spine.
New Parents: Okay and she said I have my own apartment I’m like no you know don’t just like I do. …So she took me over to her house and it was definitely her apartment she had a bed in there she had it’s easy say like some box food my freezer.
I was like well you know I have couple kids at home come on down you can play with them talk with us whatever’s in our house it held were you at that time eight years old living in the apartment by herself maybe almost nine.
Dr Phill: So at eight years old you’re living alone in an apartment now.
TD: Right here she’s got a little bit of a smile. Now when I see this it could mean a number of things such as duping delight. Again you’ve got to take in account the circumstance of the body language. If she’s leaked any other tells to say that she is lying or a little bit suspect or some orange flags or red flags are popping up. This is one but it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s duping delight. It could be a release of tension.
The Dialogue 