A US woman accused of abandoning a young Ukrainian-born girl three years after adopting her has claimed the so-called child is actually a deeply disturbed adult with dwarfism.
Kristine Barnett, 45, and her now ex-husband Michael Barnett, 43, were told that “Natalia was six and had medical issues including a bone growth disorder and vision problems” after adopting her in May 2010, The Sun reports.
They were told little else, other than that “Natalia had been in the US for two years, had a Ukrainian birth certificate reading 4 September 2003 and needed a home immediately because her previous adoptive parents suddenly gave her up - for undisclosed reasons”, adds the Daily Mail.
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The girl went to live with the Barnetts - who had fostered other children - in a rented flat in Lafayette, Indiana, where Natalia was “in and out of mental health facilities” after exhibiting problem behaviour, says The Telegraph.
In 2013, the couple moved to Canada so that their highly gifted autistic son Jacob, now 21, could attend the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ontario - but left Natalia behind in the apartment. The family is understood to have cut all contact with the girl with the exception of sending rent money each month.
Police say she managed to survive by befriending neighbours before eventually being interviewed by officers a year after she was abandoned.
Following a five-year investigation, the Barnetts were charged last week with two counts of neglect of a dependent.
But they insist no crime was committed, because they believed Natalia was not a minor.
Indeed, before abandoning Natalia, the Barnetts had her age legally changed so she was considered an adult. They say they have evidence that shows they were telling the truth - most notably a letter from their primary care physician, Dr Andrew McLaren.
In the document, dated March 2012, McLaren reportedly stated that Natalia’s 2003 birth date was clearly inaccurate and that she had made a career out of pretending to be a child.
“He said Natalia fooled him, her parents and other physicians,” the Daily Mail reports.
However, medical reports filed by prosecutors state that Natalia was aged around eight in 2010 and 11 in 2012, with opinions varying slightly as her medical condition made it more difficult to assess her growth.
Michael Barnett is remaining quiet about the allegations, but his ex-wife is anxious to give “her side of this amazing story” and has “has taken to social media and the press”, says The Sun.
In an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail, she claimed that Natalia “began exhibiting adult behaviours” shortly after the adoption, and that “when challenged about her age, she became violent and menacing”.
Barnett says that Natalia repeatedly threatened to stab the family in their sleep, poured bleach in her coffee and once pushed her against an electric fence.
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“She would make statements and draw pictures saying she wanted to kill family members, roll them up in a blanket and put them in the backyard,” Barnett told the paper.
“She was standing over people in the middle of the night. You couldn’t go to sleep. We had to hide all the sharp objects. I saw her putting chemicals, bleach, Windex, something like that, in my coffee.
“Natalia was a woman. She had periods. She had adult teeth. She never grew a single inch, which would happen even with a child with dwarfism.”
Barnett also alleges that Natalia begun “jumping out of moving cars” and “smearing blood on mirrors” and that “the doctors all confirmed she was suffering a severe psychological illness only diagnosed in adults”.
In a message on her Facebook page, she wrote: “I am sick and devastated from the idea of any of these charges and maintain that they are false charges.”
She and her husband, who divorced in 2015, are on bail while investigations continue.
“Where Natalia is now living and who is caring for her is also unknown,” says The Sun.
