The story of Natalia Grace has continued to captivate audiences, first through an Investigation Discovery docuseries and now with the Hulu drama Good American Family, starring Ellen Pompeo and Mark Duplass. In 2010, Kristine and Michael Barnett, an Indiana couple, adopted Natalia, a young girl from Ukraine with dwarfism, whom they believed to be 6 years old.
However, their perception of her soon shifted as they began to suspect that Natalia was deceiving them about her age and even allegedly terrorising their family. This led to a years-long saga filled with conflicting stories, controversy, and a supposed resolution that turned out to be far more complicated than anyone could have anticipated.
Where is Natalie Grace now?
Natalie is currently residing in New York along with Nicole DePaul and her husband Vince who had previously attempted to adopt her in 2009. Nicole shared with People, “At first it was bumpy because the Mans were still involved. They were calling Natalia constantly and trying to wheel her back in. It was just this constant thing where we were walking a fine line of not doing too much. See, she just came from this house that basically was ruled by a dictator, so I didn’t want to tell her what to do.”
According to People magazine, Natalia has been diagnosed with various mental disorders including ADHD, Anxiety, and PTSD. She is also diagnosed with Retractive attachment disorder where a person struggles to “establish healthy attachments with parents or caregivers” because of past neglect, as described by the Mayo Clinic.
As of January, Natalia is keeping herself busy as she is studying for her GED, learning how to drive and dreams of being a grade school teacher.
Natalia who also has some type of dwarfism, said, “I’m a girl who loves kids and wants to get married and have children. But one of my biggest things is not making promises I can’t keep. I’ve had too many promises that have been broken. I’m just ready to move on,” as reported by Entertainment Weekly.
Did the Barnetts ever go to jail?
Neither Michael nor Kristine Barnett served jail time despite being charged in 2019 with neglect of a dependent. Michael was acquitted of the charges in 2022, while the charges against Kristine were dropped in 2023, bringing an end to the legal proceedings surrounding the case. In 2013, Kristine published a memoir titled The Spark: A Mother’s Story of Nurturing, Genius, and Autism, reflecting on her experiences with her son. By 2019, her address was listed in Florida, and she has since kept a low profile, as reported by the Newsweek.
Michael who filed for divorce in 2014, later appeared in the docuseries The Curious Case of Natalia Grace, expressing remorse for his part in the controversial events surrounding their adoption of Natalia.
