Natalia Grace’s Dad and mom: The place Are Kristine and Michael Barnett At present?

The complicated story of Natalia Grace Mans and the authorized saga involving her former adoptive mother and father has been tailored for the small display screen a number of occasions.

First got here ID’s docuseries “The Curious Case of Natalia Grace,” which premiered in 2023 and aired its third and remaining season in January. Two months later, a brand new scripted miniseries, “Good American Household,” premiered on Hulu.

The ripped-from-the-headlines drama stars Imogen Religion Reid as Natalia, a Ukrainian orphan with a type of dwarfism known as spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia. She is adopted by Kristine and Michael Barnett, a married couple performed by Ellen Pompeo and Mark Duplass, respectively. Throughout eight episodes, their relationship and household dynamic unravels as they start to suspect Natalia is mendacity about her age — culminating in a authorized conflict within the season finale.

In actual life, the Barnetts ultimately deserted Natalia after claiming she was really an grownup pretending to be a toddler.

The now-divorced couple, who mentioned they believed Natalia to be 6 years previous once they first adopted her in 2010, accused Natalia of constructing violent threats in opposition to relations — together with attempting to poison Kristine — and claimed she had pubic hair and menstrual cycles. Natalia has persistently denied the entire Barnetts’ claims concerning her violent conduct and faking her age.

After sending their adopted daughter to a psychiatric hospital, Michael and Kristine turned satisfied that Natalia was secretly an grownup and efficiently petitioned in courtroom to alter Natalia’s age from eight to 22, altering her beginning yr from 2003 to 1989. The Barnetts then moved Natalia into an impartial condo, first in Westfield, Indiana, in 2012, after which in Lafayette, Indiana, in 2013, and left the nation, transferring to Canada to help their eldest son’s graduate schooling.

In 2019, they confronted neglect expenses in connection to Natalia’s case. Michael was acquitted of the fees in October 2022, and the fees in opposition to Kristine have been dismissed in March 2023.

“The Curious Case of Natalia Grace” first aired on Investigation Discovery in Could 2023 and targeted on the Barnett household’s perspective. Within the second a part of the documentary collection, titled “Natalia Speaks,” which aired in January 2024, Natalia informed her facet of the story. The third installment, titled “The Closing Chapter,” premiered in January 2025 and focuses on her departure from the Mans household.

In “Natalia Speaks,” Natalia alleged that her adoptive mom, Kristine Barnett, abused her as a toddler and coached her to say that she was older than she really was. Michael mentioned in a dialog with Natalia featured within the documentary that his ex-wife additionally manipulated him, and mentioned that Kristine, who did not take part within the docuseries, was merciless to Natalia.

When reached for remark, Kristine Barnett mentioned in an e-mail to Enterprise Insider that allegations that she “deserted” or “abused” Natalia have been false, sustaining that Natalia was decided to be an grownup by events apart from herself and Michael. She mentioned that she had declined to take part within the ID docuseries.

“The ‘proof’ introduced on the TV present didn’t undergo the courts or any authorized requirements to be verified as true,” she mentioned.

This is every little thing we learn about the place Michael and Kristine Barnett are actually.

Michael and Kristine break up in 2014

The Barnetts break up up lengthy earlier than they made their claims in opposition to Natalia public in 2019.

The Lafayette Journal & Courier reported that Michael Barnett left Canada in late 2013 and moved again to Indianapolis. Per courtroom paperwork accessed by USA At present, Kristine mentioned Michael moved again to Indiana after an unspecified “incident impacting the kids” in fall 2013 earlier than submitting for divorce from her in February 2014. Their divorce was finalized 4 years later.

Michael later remarried, he says within the docuseries.

In 2019, the previous couple have been charged with neglecting Natalia

Whereas Natalia was legally an grownup as a result of Barnetts re-aging her in courtroom, she was nonetheless labeled as a dependent of the Barnetts on account of her incapacity.

In 2019, Michael and Kristine have been charged with neglect of a dependent, Fox 59 reported citing courtroom paperwork filed in Tippecanoe County in Indiana. In accordance with the Lafayette Journal & Courier in 2022, the couple have been particularly charged with neglect of a dependent, neglect of a dependent inflicting bodily harm, neglect of a dependent inflicting severe bodily harm, and conspiracy to neglect a dependent.

Testifying in courtroom in opposition to Michael throughout his trial, Natalia defined how her uncommon form of dwarfism could cause skeletal abnormalities and points with imaginative and prescient and listening to. In accordance with Natalia, she was unable to wash herself or use a washer resulting from her mobility points and subsisted totally on prompt noodles, pizza, and peanut butter sandwiches whereas residing on her personal in Indiana.

Michael Barnett was acquitted of neglect expenses after a jury trial

Per the Journal & Courier, Michael turned himself in to authorities in September 2019 and was launched on bond. On the time, information indicated that he lived in Indianapolis.

In accordance with the similar publication, an October 2019 gag order prohibited anybody concerned within the case from making public feedback about it.

Michael was acquitted of the fees in October 2022. Within the documentary collection, Natalia says that Michael reached out to her to talk after the gag order was lifted. Throughout the dialog, he mentioned that he and Natalia had “the identical monster” in Kristine, however finally stormed out of the encounter after Natalia’s guardian, Bishop Antwon Mans, requested him to cease swearing.

A lawyer for Michael Barnett declined to remark when reached by Enterprise Insider.

Michael Barnett additionally appeared in “The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: The Closing Chapter,” which premiered in January 2025. He mentioned that he hoped Natalia would be capable to “discover happiness.”

“I am simply attempting to maneuver on. I am gonna do every little thing I can to not give it some thought,” Michael mentioned in episode considered one of “The Closing Chapter.”

Kristine Barnett’s neglect expenses have been dismissed

Kristine turned herself in shortly after Michael in September 2019, in accordance with the Journal & Courier. On the time, her jail information confirmed that she lived in Bradenton, Florida, although the fees listed an Indianapolis tackle.

In March 2023, a Tippecanoe County decide signed the order to dismiss the fees in opposition to Kristine, per the Journal & Courier, citing “inadequate proof” at trial to show the fees on this case past an affordable doubt.”

In 2013, Kristine printed the ebook “The Spark: A Mom’s Story of Nurturing, Genius, and Autism” about elevating her son Jacob. In a January 10 audio house on X, which Kristine despatched to BI through e-mail, she mentioned that the allegations in opposition to her interfered along with her profession as a parenting writer and guide.

“I do not know once I’ll be again to work. I wish to be again to work,” Kristine mentioned within the house across the 2:06:00 mark. “I have been waking up day-after-day for the previous 5 years mourning the truth that my work is gone. I hope I get it again.”