By Evridiki Fatolia,
In 2010, at the age of seven, Natalia Grace (Barnett) Mans, an American with dwarfism of Ukrainian origin, was adopted by a family in the United States. Her adoptive parents stated that she was an adult when she was abandoned a year later. The court allowed them to change her birth year from 2003 to 1989 in 2011. Grace’s adoptive parents abandoned her at her first apartment in 2011 when she was eight years old, according to a DNA test conducted in August 2023, which put her age at around twenty-two. Since then, her birth date has been altered again to 2003.
Later, the Barnetts were accused of neglect; however, in 2022, Michael was found not guilty, and in 2023, the accusations against Kristine were dropped. Anna Volodymyrivna Gava of Mykolaiv, her mother, gave birth to her in Ukraine. Her condition, spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia congenita—a rare form of dwarfism—was discovered after she was sent to an orphanage in Ukraine. Dyan and Gary Ciccone of New Hampshire adopted her in 2008, but in 2010 they put her up for adoption once more, claiming she had engaged in “disruptive behavior”.
Just so they could legally change Natalia’s age from eight to twenty-two, the Barnetts inititated a Marion County, Indiana, court case in 2012 to alter her birth certificate to reflect a 1989 birth date. Natalia was transferred to an apartment in Westfield, Indiana, and then to Lafayette, Indiana, by the Barnetts in July 2013. Natalia was left alone in the Lafayette flat when the Barnetts relocated to Canada with their biological children.
Cynthia Mans, who found Natalia abandoned in the Lafayette apartment and took her in, believed that the 2009 movie Orphan was the reason Kristine Barnett decided to officially change Natalia’s age. According to the Manses, Natalia had not displayed psychopathic tendencies while residing in their house. Natalia Grace has since been living with the DePaul family, who also expressed interest in adopting her.
The dramatic yet true story of Natalia Grace, who has a rare form of dwarfism, served as the inspiration for the Hulu series Good American Family, which is viral right now. Grace’s adoptive parents declared in 2012 that she was an adult pretending to be a child and that her age had been legally altered. The show explores the reasons behind the increased scrutiny surrounding Grace’s identity and age.
Ellen Pompeo from Grey’s Anatomy plays Kristine Barnett in the 2010 adoption of seven-year-old Natalia in the television series Good American Family. Because of her son Jacob, a physics whiz with autism who made headlines for excelling in school while experts questioned his skills, Barnett was a rising celebrity on the speakers’ circuit at the time. In the program, her husband Michael (Mark Duplass) is thrilled to have a daughter at last, and Kristine views Natalia (Imogen Faith Reid) as her next project.
The Barnetts updated Natalia’s age from eight to twenty-two in 2012, both in real life and on the show, and relocated her into an apartment so she could live independently. Both Michael and Kristine Barnett were accused of abandoning a dependent; Michael was found not guilty, and Kristine’s charges were withdrawn. The third season of the documentary series The Curious Case of Natalia Grace, which featured the real Natalia Grace on the cover of People magazine’s January 13, 2025, edition, just aired in January. It gave both Michael Barnett and the real Natalia Grace the opportunity to share their perspectives.
Reference
- The Wild True Story Behind Good American Family. TIME. Available here
