IN - Couple charged with abandonment of adopted child after legally changing her age, Sept 2019 #2 *not guilty*

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I'm sure this is an unpopular opinion but I do have a bit of sympathy for michael. I don't think he's blameless but kristine was clearly the driving force behind what happened to natalia and michael is a victim of hers. Not to the same degree that natalia is but a victim nonetheless.

Yes, to some degree. But my problem with him is he still continues to make the claim that Natalia tried to kill them. He knows this isn’t true, and he KNOWS she isn’t as old as they claimed. Also, he knows it was wrong to leave her alone in an apartment, but he doesn’t really take accountability for it. JMHO
 
I don't feel sorry for Michael one bit. As far as I am concerned he avoided legal responsibility because he knows how to work the legal system. He had multiple lawyers at his criminal trial, his interests were well protected. Whereas Natalia didn't even have representation in court for her re-aging. And he knows that full well. Judge re-aged Natalia without anyone presenting evidence that she was a child born in 2003. And it was his primary care physician who provided an affidavit for the court claiming Natalia was "older." And per the link I posted upthread, when a lawyer tried to overturn the re-aging, Michael showed up with his lawyer. Re-aging wasn't overturned.
 
I'm sure this is an unpopular opinion but I do have a bit of sympathy for michael. I don't think he's blameless but kristine was clearly the driving force behind what happened to natalia and michael is a victim of hers. Not to the same degree that natalia is but a victim nonetheless.
I felt for him for maybe a split second for how kristine took advantage of what a stupid, weak, pathetic man he is. I agree she was the dominant one. But then I remember him running to the trash press and going on TV saying those horrid things about his victim, just like Kristine did. He publically demonized and humiliated an innocent child. Got the world talking about her hair and whether she had a menstrual cycle and lied about her being violent and evil so everyone would despise and ridicule her. As if the initial years of abuse he put her through weren't bad enough. He doesn't deserve a shred of sympathy or pity. Michael doesn't care about anyone but Michael, that's very clear.
 
Oh my gosh!!! I am furious!!! This article is insane!!! See, it hurts me to see the STUPID media believing the CRAP that Michael and Kristine shelled out!


Natalia Grace: From Orphan to Dangerous Adult​


Michael Barnett and his ex-wife Kristine Barnett were involved in a nightmare scenario that rivaled even the most unbelievable movie storylines, in a case that sounds straight out of a tense thriller.
 
Here is a much better article, talking about follow up to the ID documentary, where Natalia will tell her story.
"The legal system fares no better than the Barnetts, who were charged with neglect of a dependent in 2019: The six-part doc suggests the adoptive parents were enabled by an unjust institution, one that allowed them to successfully change Natalia's legal age from 8 to 22; barred any mention of her age from Michael's trial, resulting in a "not guilty" verdict; and dropped all charges against Kristine in March 2023."
 
I felt for him for maybe a split second for how kristine took advantage of what a stupid, weak, pathetic man he is. I agree she was the dominant one. But then I remember him running to the trash press and going on TV saying those horrid things about his victim, just like Kristine did. He publically demonized and humiliated an innocent child. Got the world talking about her hair and whether she had a menstrual cycle and lied about her being violent and evil so everyone would despise and ridicule her. As if the initial years of abuse he put her through weren't bad enough. He doesn't deserve a shred of sympathy or pity. Michael doesn't care about anyone but Michael, that's very clear.

I wish the courts requested a PSYCH EVAL for Michael, what a head trip!
 
Well, they weren’t getting paid to say otherwise.
It seems ludicrous to me that the court changed her aged based solely on a GP’s opinion. Videos seem to show us that Natalia was intimidated by Michael and Christine and would say whatever she was told. I don’t know but, could her genetics have caused her to have had an early puberty or medications? Who knows, but her pictures seem to support her younger age. I hope she is able to get a team together that will set things straight amd go from there. She should not have to say 1998 is her birthday if it isn’t; she didn’t have any say in that at all. Seems like she is in a loving family now.
 
Their biological offspring were not left alone in the apartment to fend for themselves. I find what happened to Natalia absolutely outrageous.
Her biological mother gave her up because of her disabilities and she ended up in an orphange as a newborn. She was adopted from a foreign country, then that first family gave her up. She eventually ended up adopted by the Barnetts, who had the court to re-age her into a legal adult and left her alone in an apartment to fend for herself. Because she was legally re-aged, prosecution couldn't even present evidence that she wasn't even 9 yet when left alone in the apartment. And because the court re-aged her, she couldn't even go to school or get any other benefits children are supposed to get. She also didn't get the medical care she needed for her severe disabilities. It's a miracle she is alive.
It is really horrific. I hope she does get some justice one day. For now maybe unconditional love, a warm family life and the love of God is what is needed. I’m telling you when the defense attorneys were trying to use that footage of her, dragging the trashcan in, as evidence of her being physically able to manage her life in Lafayette I about screamed. To me that was despicable. And then, her running across the street was also evidence? What about the stairs? Running across the street and going up flights of stairs are two different things. Being able to reach your sink and stove and other amenities in your house. I’m so glad that God brought people into her life to care for her during what could’ve been a very dangerous time for her.
 
And yes, you can clearly see that she has matured now.
Obviously. She clearly looks more mature now than she did when her legal age was changed to 19, when she looked like a little girl because she was one. I find it appalling that a court can change a child's age to an adult age apparently based on affidavit of some doctor who clearly isn't an expert on child's dwarfism, and some social worker who supposedly believed that to be "appropriate." Without that child even having anybody appointed to represent her side. At to this date it hasn't been overturned, and courts are acting as if this re-aging is written in stone. If those are the laws, they need to be changed.
 
Natalia.jpg

I personally can't look at these photos and see a person born in 1989. Looking at her 2009 photo, she would have been 20 years old in that photo. NO *advertiser censored**ING Way! These photos show her maturing as she would if her birth year was 2003 as was found on her birth certificate and based on the information from her biological mother. I just can't be convinced the adoptive parents weren't extremely wrong in what they did!
 
And @cocomod , your visual assessment matches the (at least) 3 bone scans read by 3 different trained radiologists at different hospitals over about a decade estimating Natalia's skeletal age -- to match her original Ukrainian birth certificate.

Highly qualified, board-certified physicians agree with you & i, @cocomod!

ymmv lrr
 
And @cocomod , your visual assessment matches the (at least) 3 bone scans read by 3 different trained radiologists at different hospitals over about a decade estimating Natalia's skeletal age -- to match her original Ukrainian birth certificate.

Highly qualified, board-certified physicians agree with you & i, @cocomod!

ymmv lrr

Thank you @Laughing ! I still think the judge should be ashamed and the system is completely bonkers that they did not overturn the change of age!!!
 
The DNA match to her mother confirms her age to me 100%. Unless someone is willing to argue that her mother really had her at 10.


Yes!!! The whole argument that she is older completely defies any sort of logic to me! Unless someone has not studied this case and looked at the evidence, I just don't see how they can honestly believe her adoptive parents!
 

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