Natalia Grace (Barnett) Mans (born 2003) [1] [2] [3] is a Ukrainian-born American with dwarfism, who was adopted by an American family at the age of seven in 2010, but was abandoned by them one year later. Barnett's adoptive parents claimed that she was an adult, and, in 2011, they successfully sought a court order legally changing her birth year from 2003 to 1989. [1] Through an August 2023 DNA test, the health testing company TruDiagnostic estimated that Grace was about twenty-two years old, [a] suggesting that she was eight years old when her adoptive parents abandoned her in her first apartment in 2011. [2] [3] Her date of birth has since been legally restored to her 2003 birth year. [4] [5]
Barnett is the subject of two television series, The Curious Case of Natalia Grace and the Hulu dramatization Good American Family . [6]
Natalia Grace was born in Ukraine to Anna Volodymyrivna Gava of Mykolaiv. [7] [8] [9] After birth, she was placed in an orphanage in Ukraine. She was diagnosed with spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia congenita, a rare form of dwarfism. She went to the United States as an adoptee and was adopted by Kristine and Michael Barnett in the spring of 2010. Natalia had a previous adoptive placement in the United States prior to her adoption by the Barnetts. [10] [11] She took the name Natalia Grace Barnett after being adopted by them. [11]
In 2012, the Barnetts successfully petitioned the Marion County, Indiana court to change Natalia's Ukrainian birth records to indicate a 1989 birth date, which legally changed her age from eight to twenty-two. [11] In July 2013, the Barnetts moved Natalia to an apartment in Westfield, Indiana, and later Lafayette, Indiana. The Barnetts then moved along with their biological children to Canada, leaving Natalia alone in the Lafayette apartment. [11] Shortly after being left alone in the Lafayette apartment, Natalia was invited to live with Antwon and Cynthia Mans, who noticed that Natalia struggled to live on her own. [12] The Barnetts were charged with neglect of a dependent but Michael was later found not guilty. [13] [10]
The prosecutors in the neglect case against the Barnetts were able to locate Natalia's birth mother in Ukraine. Natalia's mother was identified as Anna Volodymyrivna Gava who was born April 20, 1979, in Latvia. DNA testing confirmed Gava as Natalia's biological mother. If Natalia's court-assigned birth date of 1989 were correct, Gava would have given birth to Natalia at ten years of age. The prosecutors also obtained birth and hospital records from Ukraine which support Natalia's original September 4, 2003, birth date. The prosecutors were barred from presenting the evidence that Natalia was a minor child born in 2003 when she was left to live alone in an apartment, and the neglect case was tried based on Natalia's disability, not her age. [14] [15] [16]
Cynthia Mans, who took Natalia in after discovering her abandoned in the Lafayette apartment, said she believed that Kristine Barnett was inspired to legally change Natalia's age by the 2009 film Orphan. The Barnetts claimed that Natalia was lying about her age and also exhibited sociopathic behavior which is similar to the plot of that film. The Manses said that Natalia has not exhibited sociopathic behavior while living in their home.
Since then, Natalia Grace has left the Mans' home and moved in with the DePaul family, who had originally attempted to adopt Natalia prior to her adoption by the Barnetts. After allegations that the Mans family extorted Natalia for money, the DePauls have helped her obtain an attorney to try to recoup her funds. [17] [18] [19]
In 2019, Natalia appeared on an episode of Dr. Phil. [18] Her life is the subject of the 2023 Investigation Discovery series The Curious Case of Natalia Grace (re-titled to The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: Natalia Speaks for season 2). Season 3 premiered January 7, 2025, on Max. [10] Her story is the basis of the Hulu TV series Good American Family , [20] [21] in which she is played by Imogen Faith Reid.
