Ukrainian Dwarf Girl Adopted, Then Abandoned By Couple After Alleging She’s An Adult ‘Sociopath’ Gets Adopted By New Family

Adopted girl from the Ukraine thought to be young girl allegedly a 22-year-old "sociopath" con-artist according to mother who abandoned her, now new couple adopts girl.

iStockphoto / kieferpix


There is an important update on the absolutely bizarre news story about an Indiana couple who were arrested for abandoning their supposedly young daughter, but they claim the girl is actually a 22-year-old “sociopath” who attempted to murder them.

To recap, Kristine and Michael Barnett adopted Natalia Grace Barnett in April of 2010. The Indiana couple were told that the girl who was originally from Ukraine was six-years-old and her birth certificate said she was born on September 4, 2003. However, the Barnetts soon became suspicious of the girl’s actual age.

Natalia had a much more developed and sophisticated vocabulary for her age and she was having her period. Then came the alleged violent behavior by Natalia. Kristine told Daily Mail that Natalia was a “sociopath.”

The mother alleges that her daughter attacked Barnett’s two sons, drew pictures of her murdering the Barnett family, tried to push Kristine into an electric fence at a birthday party, poured bleach in her coffee, and admitted she was trying to poison her. Kristine believes her daughter is an adult and a con-artist who is suffering from a severe psychiatric illness.

RELATED: Indiana Couple Charged With Abandoning Their 9-Year-Old Daughter Allege She Was A 22-Year-Old Con Artist With Dwarfism

Natalia started having health issues because of spondyloepimetaphyseal dysplasia, which is a form of dwarfism. It is an “inherited disorder of bone growth that results in short stature, skeletal abnormalities, and problems with vision” according to the U.S. Library of Medicine.

Kristine took Natalia to the doctor, and the physicians noticed that the girl had adult teeth. In 2012, doctors said that Natalia was “at least 18-years-old.” Doctors believed Natalia was “perpetuating the age misconceptions in order to be treated as a child by parents and strangers.”

In 2012, the Barnetts took this information and medical records to the Marion Superior Court and a judge ruled that the girl was older than what she said. The court legally changed Natalia’s birth certificate to September 4, 1989, making her 22-years-old at the time.

In July of 2013, the Barnetts provided an apartment for Natalia and paid for her rent. Natalia was evicted from the apartment in May of 2014 according to court documents. Kristine and Michael’s son Jake was accepted into the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ontario, and the family moved to Canada.

After a five-year investigation, Kristine and Michael Barnett were charged with two counts of neglect of a dependent for abandoning their daughter. Kristine surrendered to authorities on September 19 and was released on a $5,500 bond. Michael gave himself up on September 18 and was released after posting $5,000 bail.

Now a new family has adopted Natalia. Antwon Mans, a 36-year-old who was recently ordained as a pastor, and his 39-year-old wife Cynthia Mans, applied for legal guardianship of Natalia in 2016. According to court documents, they describe Natalia as an “alleged incapacitated person” who was 13 or 14-years-old. The Christian couple lives in a former church parsonage about an hour outside of Indianapolis.

“The Mans care for Natalia and she likes being there,” a friend of the family told the Daily Mail. ‘There’s nothing crazy going on or anything. These are good people.

Based on who you believe, Natalia is currently a 16-year-old who was abandoned or a 30-year-old “sociopath” con-artist who tried to pretend to be a child to get adopted. I have a sneaky suspicion that we have not heard the end of this odd news story and it will only get even weirder.

You can read the entire story over at the DailyMail.