A mess with a dwarf: an American family is sure that they adopted an adult psychopath
The American Barnett family got into a strange, almost detective story, adopting an orphan from Ukraine. The police accuse the couple of abandoning a 10-year-old child from a foreign country six years ago. The adoptive parents themselves claim that instead of a child, they were given an adult fraudster with mental disabilities who suffered from dwarfism. What really happened in the Barnett family?
In 2012, an event impossible from the point of view of logic happened — the child suddenly became 13 years older. The age change for his daughter Natasha Barnett was achieved by foster parents Michael and Kristin. They managed to convince the judge that their daughter, who according to the documents was only 9 years old, is an adult woman. Whether this is true or not is still unclear.
Natalia Barnett at the table (center left). Photo of 2012
A girl with a disability named Natasha Barnett was adopted in 2010. The child suffered from a congenital disease called spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia. This ailment interferes with normal bone growth and causes dwarfism.
But the adoption agency did not abandon Natasha to the mercy of fate and began to look for a new home for her. The Barnett family was ideally suited to the role of parents for a complex child. Michael and Kristin was distinguished by angelic patience and perseverance — they struggled with difficulties, even if the doctors gave up.
Michael and Christine Barnett
The family had three sons, one of whom, Jacob, was diagnosed with autism shortly after birth. Experts claimed that the child will never be able to socialize and will not start talking. But the mother decided to take the boy's rehabilitation into her own hands and achieved the impossible — in a few years she turned him into a child prodigy. No one even doubted that the Barnetts would cope with Natasha's upbringing and gave them a rejected child.
According to the documents received in Ukraine, in 2010 Natasha was 7 years old. Kristin immediately questioned this fact, since the girl did not behave at all like a child of primary school age should. She was cunning, skillfully manipulated people and constantly lied about her past. In addition, the baby turned out to have a completely non-childish vocabulary.
A little later it turned out that Natasha masterfully hides from everyone the signs of puberty, which simply cannot be in a child of her age. Doctor Andrew McLaren, who observed the girl from 2010 to 2012, is sure that she was older than indicated on the birth certificate. This was also indicated by teeth, among which there were no dairy teeth for a long time.
Actor Warwick Davis with his wife and children. They all have spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia, like Natasha
In 2011, two dentists and a psychologist concluded that Natasha Barnett was a fully formed adult woman who suffered from dwarfism. In 2012, there was another reason to think so — a child with a sociopathic personality disorder was admitted to a psychiatric clinic. This disease occurs in people over the age of 16, while Natasha was only 9 according to official papers.
Dr. McLaren said that after Natasha was discharged, she began to tell everyone that she was 18 years old. At the same time, the doctor himself and some of his colleagues were inclined to the option that they were dealing with an adult, mentally ill dwarf who was at least 22 years old.
McLaren 's letter to the judges had the following lines:
A family without an adopted daughter Natasha
Michael and Kristin began to be afraid of her adopted daughter, as they suspected that they had sheltered a real monster. They appealed to the inheritance court and, enlisting the help of an experienced lawyer Michelle Jackson, achieved a revision of Natasha's age. The positive decision of the court was influenced by the testimony of a dentist and a psychologist, as well as documented observations of McLaren's family doctor.
Then Natasha's foster father Michael Barnett began to open up. The man told investigators: his wife Kristin herself taught the girl to tell everyone that she was 22 years old and that she looked younger than her years. But why did a woman need all this? It's simple — the family needed to get rid of a strange foster member who had an unpredictable and nasty character.
The young genius of physics Jacob Barnett
In 2012, the Barnetts' son Jacob, who suffers from autism, became a celebrity. They started talking about him on television and in the press, inviting him to various shows and conferences. From the age of 8, the boy attended lectures on mathematics at the university and, according to his mother, his IQ was higher than that of Einstein.
Kristin Barnett even wrote the book "The Spark of God, or How to raise a Genius," in which she described her work as a teacher and the characteristics of a boy, while not sparing colors and epithets. In 2013, 15-year-old Jacob was invited to study at the prestigious Perimeter Institute of Theoretical Physics, located in the Canadian province of Ontario.
After the boy, his parents moved there, as well as his two brothers. Suspicious dwarf Natasha turned out to be a stranger at this celebration of life and she was masterfully disposed of. Since, according to the new documents obtained through the efforts of Kristin, she was an adult 23-year-old woman, she could well live by herself.
The house in Lafayette where the apartment was rented for Natasha Barnetta
The Banettes sold their house, and rented an apartment for their adopted daughter in the city of Lafayette. After that , the whole family drove off to Canada and Natasha never saw them again. She was left alone, in a strange city, where she did not even have acquaintances. Michael and Kristin not only did not send money to her adopted daughter, but they did not even call to find out how she was doing.
It turned out that the Barnetts paid the rent for only 9 months and soon Natasha was asked to vacate the premises. A neighbor told reporters that she had not seen her after that and had no idea where she could be now.
Barnett also stopped going to school. In this regard, in 2014, the director of the educational institution contacted the police with a statement about the disappearance of Natasha. The police managed to quickly find a notable person and take her testimony about her hopeless life. Following this, a case of neglect of parental duties was initiated against the foster family that left the disabled person to the mercy of fate.
The next five years of Natasha's life are covered in darkness — no one knows where she was and what she was doing. In 2016, the orphan left Lafayette and in the same year another family applied for her adoption. But technically Natasha was Michael 's daughter and Kristin and those, for some reason, turned out to be against adoption.
Formal litigation lasted a couple of years, but in 2018, the new adoptive parents withdrew the documents. And on September 11, 2019, the Barnetts were formally charged. They were suspected of leaving a helpless disabled dependent without means of livelihood, as well as of putting her life in danger.
Wanted by the US police
In the USA, these are serious crimes punishable by substantial prison terms. Michael Barnett voluntarily surrendered to the police and, having posted bail, was released before the trial. But his wife did not obey the demands of the authorities to appear and is still staying with her sons somewhere in Canada. The journalists managed to talk to Kristin and she said that she had no idea that she was wanted until media representatives started calling her.
Kristin Barnett is still firmly convinced that her family was the victim of a cunning Ukrainian swindler who posed as a child. A couple of months after her confession, her husband Michael changed his initial testimony and now also assures investigators that he was deceived by the insidious Natasha.
The trial, which will put an end to this complicated case, will take place only in 2020, and so far no party has taken to comment on the situation. One of the police officers, invited to a TV show dedicated to this story, said only the following: "They'll end up making a TV series about it."
Keywords: Age | Child prodigy | Disabled | Dwarfs | Fraud | Deception | Court | Adoption