There are so many odd details and claims surrounding the case of Natalia Barnett, a Ukrainian-born girl who was adopted by Indiana couple Michael and Kristine Barnett in 2010. We are waiting for you. Their side of the story has been corroborated by several clinicians and hospital staff. You have two sisters and two brothers.'. If you're interested in submitting a Letter to the Editor, click here. Natalia Grace Barnett exits Superior Court 2 with her guardians Antwon and Cynthia Mans after the hearing. 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Natalia's story went viral in September when her adoptive parents, Michael and Kristine Barnett, were charged with with neglect. Meyer's Aug. 14 ruling is that Tippecanoe Superior Court cannot alter another state superior court, so Natalia's age is a settled matter in the courts. jconline. But in a dramatic intervention that threatens to derail the pair's defense, biological mom Anna Volodymyrivna Gava has broken her silence to defend Natalia, after an exhaustive search by DailyMailTV to track her down. Plus: A Chicago mother is arrested in . Anna Volodymyrivna Gava said she was forced to give up her daughter after her birth, and that Natalia was definitely born in 2003. I did not see my baby girl after that.'. It is NOT asking the Court of Appeals to DECIDE IF she is a child. Only if the state can argue that, and of course present the evidence of the birth mother who was not even known to the state prior to this criminal case. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aU5A-LjBbaA. I haven't been able to breathe in a very long time. She added: 'I've learnt that they tried to put her in a mental facility twice, that she wanted to poison, to kill someone. To be accused of this is unconscionable to me. The criminal case judge had ordered that the neglect charges based upon her age had to be dismissed (the neglect charges based upon her dependency as a disabled person were not effected/still going ahead). The Barnett couple adopted Natalia from Ukraine in 2010. is now living with another family in Indiana. Natalia, who has a rare form of dwarfism that makes it difficult to gauge her age, was thought to be somewhere between 6 and 8 when Michael and Kristine Barnett adopted her in 2010. This would require restoring Natalias original birth date to 2003, to which the Barnetts filed an objection. Anna, meanwhile, hopes Natalia will one day make the 5,500-mile journey to Mykolaiv, a bleak shipbuilding hub that decades earlier built many of the Soviet Union's feared destroyers and submarines. 'You [the Barnetts] were saying and swearing you'd help the child but it turns out you didn't do anything. Natalia Grace apparently even confessed to doctors at that point that she was actually 18 and that it had been fun to terrorize her family. The birth mom is 41, so born circa 1980. I have been cooperative the whole time, said Kristine. That's why they petitioned the Marion Superior Court toadjust her birthday, changing her age. According to prosecutors, Natalia was indeed a minor child and 'dependent' of the Barnetts when they rented her an apartment in Lafayette, Indiana in 2013 before leaving town and breaking off contact. In a case that continues to have twists and turns, the adoptive parents of an abandoned Ukrainian dwarf on Friday appeared in an Indiana court to face charges of felony neglect charges for allegedly dumping the 3ft girl and moving to Canada. And when I had an ultrasound done I was told that there were, so to say, no options. This is a very complicated case, people want to simplify for their comfort. Meyer indicated Wednesday afternoon that he planned to issue an order on Michael Barnett's motion to dismiss in a couple of days. Kristine Barnett was released on Sept. 19, 2019 after posting a $5,500 bond, while her ex-husband was released after posting $5,000 bail. Top editors give you the stories you want delivered right to your inbox each weekday. Who is Natalia Barnett, and how did she get to Indiana? Kristine and Michael Barnett were charged with six counts of neglect of a dependent and two counts of conspiracy to commit neglect of a dependent. But they insist that, by then, Natalia was legally considered an adult after they obtained an emergency court order the previous year to revise her date of birth from September 4, 2003 to September 4, 1989, citing medical experts. Winds light and variable. You have two sisters and two brothers., Natalia, too, went public with her story. Unbelievable th Rebekka Blue, aka Ana Dee, sells weird things on the internet. The prosecutor claimed that the age-change order should be voided since the adoption court had already confirmed Natalia's birth year as 2003. The mother of four other kids has shared with DailyMailTV the deeply distressing story of how she felt forced to surrender her newborn daughter because of the child's severe disabilities. She was jumping out of moving cars, claimed Kristine. The appeals court found that the previous court did not err in its decision to drop 6 of the 8 charges against the Barnetts. She came to the United States as an adoptee and had been under the care of several foster families in America before she was adopted by Kristine and Michael Barnett, who lived in Florida, in 2010. They took dental x rays and established she was a child. Today, depending on whom you believe, Natalia is either a 30 year-old woman or a 16-year-old trapped in a legal limbo that prevents her from even attending high school. I would like to hug her and to apologize. The Indiana Court of Appeals upheld the Tippecanoe Court's decision to dismiss six of the eight charges brought against Kristine and Michael Barnett. According to her, Natalia Grace had pubic hair and adult teeth. Her official birthdate was changed to 1989 and she was declared an adult. Her birth mother has other children and none of them have dwarfism. Is there anything new that hasn't already been widely reported in the media already? Una pareja en Estados Unidos, Kristine Barnett, de 45 aos, y su ex esposo Michael Barnett, de 43, han sido acusados de abandonar a su hija cuando tena 9 aos en Lafayette, Indiana, y huir a Canad. Doctors showed her to me and immediately told me that the girl shouldn't be taken [home] because she had a complex pathology. That meant she was 22 years old when she was adopted, not seven. In November 2019, Natalia appeared on the popular talk show Dr Phil to assure people she was who she said she was: a (then) 16-year-old teenager, born in 2003. They said the baby would never be good, that she would never be able to move, that she would be chained to a chair or to a bed., She continued, She now lives in America with adoptive parents who want to ditch her. And while it may seem like the plot of a horror movie, it's a real-life drama tearing apart two Indiana families. 17:38 GMT 08 Oct 2019 The age question, to the extent it even was a question, was solved with the revelation back in August 2020 that her birth mother was confirmed by DNA testing. Lol. Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. She definitely was a real child, now almost adult and will turn 18 later this year. According to Kristine, she could tell that Natalia Grace would need extra care. The order also declared that Tippecanoe Superior 2 does not have the legal authority to overturn a June 2012 order in a Marion Superior court that changed Natalia's birthday from September 2003 to September 1989. Natasha was placed in an orphanage where she remained for five years until officials contacted Anna to say she was about to be adopted by an American couple. Same woman about 2 weeks later sat staring at me and then preceded to talk in several different voices including what sounded like an old man and a child..then bit into the back of her hand and peeled the flesh off to the muscle as if she was eating a ripe mango ! And in 2010, the couple adopted a young girl . Prosecutors allege Kristine Barnett, 45, and Michael Barnett, 43, neglecting their adoptive daughter . Independent of the DNA verified birth mother, there are also 2 medical age assessments via x rays and growth plate analysis. Why are you leaving an underage child and say that she's older?'. And wiping away tears, she made a heartfelt plea to Natalia herself: 'Daughter, forgive me for what happened 16 years ago. The answer all seems to depend on who you believe. Here are 8 adults who were caught posing as children. But there is no child here.". We know he age NOW, but they had no DNA test or hospital records. 2010: The Barnetts take her to Manning Children's Hospital to have her bone density tested. Short little legs, short little arms. Kristine Barnett told Daily Mail Online that the adoption was a scam and that the girl was not who they thought she was. Si vous ne souhaitez pas que nos partenaires et nousmmes utilisions des cookies et vos donnes personnelles pour ces motifs supplmentaires, cliquez sur Refuser tout. So the appeal must occur before the conclusion of the trial (in this case the trial hasnt even started yet). The Barnetts moved to Canada soon after with their biological children, and while they paid her first year's rent, they didn't support Natalia financially in any other way. Six of the eight charges brough against the Barnetts were dismissed in 2019, and upheld Aug. 25. Daily Mail TV also saw orphanage documents from 2003 that suggest Natalia was an infant at the time. What's inside these hundreds of pages of court filings? Both them and my mom told me to leave her. Anna Volodymyrivna Gava told Daily Mail TV that she was forced to give up Natalia 16 years ago, when the girl was an infant. What I'm more proud of though is my busted door being used as a table an Hulu announced that Ellen Pompeo is set to star in a limited series about the Natalia Grace Barnett Ukrainian adoption case. Finally, Harrington's office argued that the statute of limitations had not been reached, as the Barnetts concealed their wrongdoings to keep the state from prosecuting. We had to hide all the sharp objects,' she claimed. Tippecanoe County Deputy Prosecutor Jackie Starbuck argued Wednesday that if Natalia's birth record was to be changed, then the Hamilton County court that issued the original birth certificate is where it should have been done. The Barnetts, meanwhile, are out on bond on charges of neglecting a dependent. 2023 www.jconline.com. Her hospital records of giving birth to Natalia (a baby with dwarfism) show her date of birth of September 2003. The Barnetts claim that Natalia, born in Ukraine, is a con artist who's much older than she lets on. The prosecutor's office plans to appeal the decision further to the Indiana Supreme Court, Harrington said Wednesday evening. But, for now, the story of Natalia Barnett remains a puzzling one. Image via Kristine Barnett. Statute of Limitations [How could this be? In 2013, the Barnetts filed for for an "age-change order" to change her birth date from 2003 to 1989 in a probate court in Marion County, effectively making Natalia legally 22 at the time, according to previous Exponent reporting. If that testimony is accurate, it would definitely be evidence that she . This girl is my daughter who was born 16 years ago. I love the movie elf, and I watch it just about every year around Christmas time. Prosecutors see things very differently, however, accusing the couple of felony neglect by endangering the life or health of a dependent and denying her necessary support and an education. The age change was based on estimates from a primary care physician and a social worker, according to court documents. She is STILL a minor and they still are required to support a minor child. Michael Barnett, left, and ex-wife, Kristine Barnett,. I did not see my baby girl after that.