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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Jamie Roberts

Natalia Grace and her adoptive parents' personalities led to 'perfect storm,' says expert

The Curious Case of Natalia Grace comes to a conclusion on ID tonight with fans still torn as to whether the Ukrainian was actually six years old at the time of her adoption.

Her adoptive US parents, Michael and Kristine Barnett, were initially overjoyed at the thought of welcoming the youngster into their Indiana family home.

But they said things quickly took a sinister turn and claimed Natalia was much older than initially suggested - going as far as getting her age legally changed by 14 years. Natalia continues to deny the allegations of her faking her age.

Viewers have been gripped by the chilling documentary series and have been stunned by what they've been seeing.

Michael Barnett and his now-ex-wife Kristine were recently acquitted of neglect charges after they left Natalia - who has a rare bone growth disorder called spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia - to live alone in an apartment while they moved to Canada.

Natalia claimed to be six when she was adopted by the Barnetts (Collect Unknown)
The Barnetts said there were 'tell-tale' signs Natalia lied about her age (Investigation Discovery)

Despite the move, the couple's previous "happy life" was in tatters and ended up in divorce. They have continued to blame Natalia's introduction into their lives as the focal point, but legal expert Beth Karas refuses to believe this.

Speaking to Mirror Online, Beth said: "I do think that there probably were some tricks [in the initial adoption]. I don't know what Natalia’s early life entailed.

"...They [the Barnetts] didn't know anything about her and she's pulling this stuff and he [Michael] was like, 'What is going on here?' They can't figure her out. But they're also holding back information about themselves, right?"

She added: "They want to portray themselves as having a picture-perfect family in middle America and from the outside they sure did look that way. Materialistically at least you know? The three boys and the big house. But when you start to peel back the curtain you see that, like everybody, there's some dysfunction in there. There might have been a little bit more in that household than others.

She went on to label the mix of Natalia and the Barnetts as being the "perfect storm of personalities".

The Barnetts adopted Natalia thinking she was six years old (Investigation Discovery)

"I think we've heard the background and then the Barnetts, they had their own secrets and their own stuff. It was just like a perfect storm of personalities, you know, coming together and just creating this craziness in the household."

Beth also thinks that the couple was wrong to simply ditch Natalia into her own home regardless of how old she was, claiming it simply wasn't fit for purpose for a person with her condition.

Putting aside the age debate - of which she tends to side with Natalia's answer - Beth said the Barnetts should have had more decency to find a home she could live in on her own trouble-free.

"Maybe if you believe she was older than she said at the time, it was still a little person with a disability and they dumped her in an apartment that wasn't modified and wasn't accessible to a person with disabilities," she said.

"But if you believe she's a child on top of that, she's living in a full size, kitchen countertops, bathroom, washing machine stove, everything the size of, you know, that aides a person who is not a small person, and she doesn't have coping skills.

"She never had to be on her own, teaching her how to live on her own. It was really rather shocking to me by the end to see how she was left and abandoned regardless of her age."

T he Curious Case of Natalia Grace concludes tonight (Wednesday May 31) at 9-11 pm ET/PT.

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