IN - Couple charged with abandonment of adopted child after legally changing her age, Sept 2019

[Meloni88]

I do not believe she was there nor was she represented. In a case like that the court would view the parents as her representatives and presume they were acting in her interests.

But if she was being deemed an adult I feel she should have had a chance to have independent counsel looking out for her interests. Yet at the time there is no way the court would foresee an outcome like this one.

Pfft I would have been mega suspicious if I was that judge. I would definitely be looking for ulterior motives. They'd adopted this girl just two years previous and now they want to make her legally considered an adult? Maybe I'm jaded but my first thought would be the dad was raping her or they were exploiting her in some way and trying to cover their asses. "Getting her better services" is the lamest reasoning ever. At the very least he/she [he, no doubt] should have insisted on an examination by an independent physician.

 

[Breezie]

Pastor of Barnetts' adopted daughter guest on 'Dr. Oz Show'

On the show, Dr. Mehmet Oz asks the girl's pastor, Steven Thomas, how old he thought she was.

“I would say mid to later 20s, if I was to guess,” Thomas responded, according to a video clip in the promotional email.

 

[Laughing]

Pastor of Barnetts' adopted daughter guest on 'Dr. Oz Show'

On the show, Dr. Mehmet Oz asks the girl's pastor, Steven Thomas, how old he thought she was.

“I would say mid to later 20s, if I was to guess,” Thomas responded, according to a video clip in the promotional email.

IMHO this guy must know the family's doctor, too!

Did he give examples? "She participated in our high school Youth Group!" "She was in our Young Adult Sunday School class, the singles class."

OR just oh, I think she's the age of a college graduate?

JMHO YMMV SMH

 

[Errrr]

I think it would make a more compelling case for N's actual age if the biological mother's own age and the date she gave birth to N could be confirmed from other documents. It seems odd to me that that wasn't done in the first place, to find those documents before going in front of a judge to have N's age changed. Did the judge ask if sufficient attempts had been made to find those documents? Is it reasonable to try and locate those records in Ukraine? Maybe it wasn't considered reasonable in the original hearing...maybe the state will be able to liaise with Ukrainian authorities to find hospital records of N's birth?

It appears they do have evidence and anyway, they could have DNA from both father and mother. The father was out of the picture just before her birth and she would have one sibling with a comparable match as well which would establish some timeline.

 

[ioethe]

Remember the Barnetts claimed that there had been two attempts to adopt Natalia prior to their involvement? Inside Edition claim to have found the other family - a couple with dwarfism, who have all the paperwork and claim that she lost a tooth while visiting them.

Couple With Same Dwarfism as Ukranian Orphan Natalia Says They 'Never' Thought She Was Secretly an Adult

Couple with dwarfism who hoped to adopt Ukrainian girl say she is not posing as an adult | Daily Mail Online

 

[squareandrabbet]

Remember the Barnetts claimed that there had been two attempts to adopt Natalia prior to their involvement? Inside Edition claim to have found the other family - a couple with dwarfism, who have all the paperwork and claim that she lost a tooth while visiting them.

Couple With Same Dwarfism as Ukranian Orphan Natalia Says They 'Never' Thought She Was Secretly an Adult

Couple with dwarfism who hoped to adopt Ukrainian girl say she is not posing as an adult | Daily Mail Online

*insert Hallelujah Chorus refrain*

Vincent DePaul told Inside Edition he was shocked when he heard the Barnetts allegations that she was actually an adult. “She looked like a child, she acted like a child. Do I look like a kid? I’m a dwarf," he said.

I'm hoping that this is enough for most of the people in the court of public opinion because... dang, finally there is someone out there saying this is stupid; and the fact that they also have dwarfism adds more fuel to the "Barnetts are clearly prejudiced idiots" fire. IMO

 

[GoneGoldfishin']

Ok, so we know she was a child when abandoned by the Barnetts, LE undoubtedly has loads of evidence after five years of investigating; there can be no doubt to anyone with a properly functioning brain and eyes to see. I think the last stubborn holdouts are clinging to the "people with dwarfism don't age, lose teeth, or show bone growth the same way" excuse, but that is just to continue clinging to their narrative out of pride.
So where does that leave the Barnett's defense? Can they really and truly claim they were just mislead by the handful of health care workers they chose to listen to (while ignoring others that had a different opinion)? Are they just going to play dumb and try to convince the jury and judge that they really didn't know? Is that even a valid defense? I worry that they will be able to get away with this by manipulating the situation yet again. MOO.

 

[Dawn Day]

Ok, so we know she was a child when abandoned by the Barnetts, LE undoubtedly has loads of evidence after five years of investigating; there can be no doubt to anyone with a properly functioning brain and eyes to see. I think the last stubborn holdouts are clinging to the "people with dwarfism don't age, lose teeth, or show bone growth the same way" excuse, but that is just to continue clinging to their narrative out of pride.
So where does that leave the Barnett's defense? Can they really and truly claim they were just mislead by the handful of health care workers they chose to listen to (while ignoring others that had a different opinion)? Are they just going to play dumb and try to convince the jury and judge that they really didn't know? Is that even a valid defense? I worry that they will be able to get away with this by manipulating the situation yet again. MOO.

I’m thinking that maybe it doesn’t even matter what they “thought”. Just like with statutory rape—-It doesn’t matter if You thought she was “older”, all that matters is her age. Perhaps same here. Because how can you prove what someone “thought”.

 

[Meloni88]

I’m thinking that maybe it doesn’t even matter what they “thought”. Just like with statutory rape—-It doesn’t matter if You thought she was “older”, all that matters is her age. Perhaps same here. Because how can you prove what someone “thought”.

Yeah idk... Maybe if they could demonstrate that a majority of MDs told them she was an adult that could be a defense or obviously if they were told this unprompted by someone and didnt go out seeking the diagnosis but that's obviously not the case. It should be treated the same as Munchasuen BP abuse. If you're doctor shopping, telling tall tales to doctors, ignoring all the doctors that say your child is not sick/not an adult and then hiding all those records from other authorities and the court you don't get to say "oh I really believed they were sick/an adult". Imagine the repercussions for child victims of all kinds of crimes.

 

[Linda7NJ]

Couple who hoped to adopt Ukrainian girl say she is not an adult


Couple with dwarfism who hoped to adopt Ukrainian girl say she is not posing as an adult | Daily Mail Online

 

[Meloni88]

Pics given to Inside Edition by the Depauls

 

[Meloni88]

Sort of interesting that picture in the red shirt looks contemporary to one that I'm pretty sure was labelled 2012 in the Daily Mail article. Same shirt and long hair. The one in the DM was taken in front of a wall and looked like the kind of picture an adoption agency would show to prospective parents.

 

[Dawn Day]

This is the full Inside Edition interview with the DePauls. Interestingly, the DePauls daughter is advocating for NB in the comments section. She said that NB was only “starting” to grow signs of maturity and that her mother inquired of a doctor and was reassured it was normal esp with her foreign birth and international adoption.

 

[squareandrabbet]

This is the full Inside Edition interview with the DePauls. Interestingly, the DePauls daughter is advocating for NB in the comments section. She said that NB was only “starting” to grow signs of maturity and that her mother inquired of a doctor and was reassured it was normal esp with her foreign birth and international adoption.

How refreshing to finally find a family practicing responsible and good parenting in this situation, because N certainly wasn't given it by the Barnetts!

 

[Errrr]

Ok, so we know she was a child when abandoned by the Barnetts, LE undoubtedly has loads of evidence after five years of investigating; there can be no doubt to anyone with a properly functioning brain and eyes to see. I think the last stubborn holdouts are clinging to the "people with dwarfism don't age, lose teeth, or show bone growth the same way" excuse, but that is just to continue clinging to their narrative out of pride.
So where does that leave the Barnett's defense? Can they really and truly claim they were just mislead by the handful of health care workers they chose to listen to (while ignoring others that had a different opinion)? Are they just going to play dumb and try to convince the jury and judge that they really didn't know? Is that even a valid defense? I worry that they will be able to get away with this by manipulating the situation yet again. MOO.

I think LE should add slander and libel of a minor to the charges.

 

[Meloni88]

How refreshing to finally find a family practicing responsible and good parenting in this situation, because N certainly wasn't given it by the Barnetts!

Dr Riggs would have told Kristine the same thing that gynae told Nicole. I mean she would have told him about the pubic hair (he may or may not have seen it himself) and he still concluded she was around 8.

 

[Dawn Day]

I think LE should add slander and libel of a minor to the charges.

Unfortunately those are civil issues, not criminal. But there is restitution in criminal cases. So maybe that could be done? I don’t know all the rules about WHEN restitution can be ordered. Also, a criminal conviction would make a civil lawsuit progress easily. Since the act would have already been proven, the only thing left to prove is damages.

 

[Amonet]

I’m thinking that maybe it doesn’t even matter what they “thought”. Just like with statutory rape—-It doesn’t matter if You thought she was “older”, all that matters is her age. Perhaps same here. Because how can you prove what someone “thought”.

I think another pertinent issue is whether the Barnetts believed N was older based on medical tests. I think it's a "which came first?" scenario. Surely a doctor would have explained to the Barnetts that the first signs of puberty *can* start as young as six in some girls. Surely that would alleviate their confusion over physical body changes. If that didn't, then the bone scans that estimated N's age very closely to that on the birth certificate should have been quite convincing? And then there are the baby teeth falling out and being replaced by permanent teeth at an age that fits with the birth certificate better than the modified age.

So, was it doctors convincing the Barnetts, or was it the Barnetts convincing doctors. Did the Barnetts tell the psychology doctors that N is a six-year old child (or whatever age she was when she had those evaluations), and did the psych doctors become the first to say, "our evaluation isn't consistent with the age on the birth certificate--the certificate must be wrong".

Or was it a dentist who could see as well as the photo progressions show that this was a child losing their baby teeth and growing permanent teeth who suggested that this wasn't consistent with the age on the birth certificate?

Which came first? A doctor declaring that med tests strongly suggested an older actual age, or the Barnetts claiming that N wasn't the age on the birth certificate?

I'm thinking that if the prosecutor goes through all these things in chronological order, that there might not be a clear sign that the 'belief' came after the medical tests or that it was a reasonable belief derived from medical tests. Or did the Barnetts want this child off their hands without any negative stigma attached to them that they had 'failed' in this adoption. And at what point does Kristine start writing books proclaiming herself to be better than experts at solving problems that children might have? Was the age change what they truly believed, or was it more of a convenience for them, and somehow they got it done without sufficient medical evidence?

 

[ioethe]

This is the full Inside Edition interview with the DePauls. Interestingly, the DePauls daughter is advocating for NB in the comments section. She said that NB was only “starting” to grow signs of maturity and that her mother inquired of a doctor and was reassured it was normal esp with her foreign birth and international adoption.

Do you have a link for those comments? I’ve just wades through the YouTube comments and now I feel a bit sick.

She looks so happy with the DuPauls. It’s such a shame it didn’t workout with them. Knowing what happened to her they must feel like absolute *advertiser censored*.

 

[cherrymeg]

Do you have a link for those comments? I’ve just wades through the YouTube comments and now I feel a bit sick.

She looks so happy with the DuPauls. It’s such a shame it didn’t workout with them. Knowing what happened to her they must feel like absolute *advertiser censored*.

It sounds like she luckily found a nice family after being abandoned. The DuPauls acted like responsible people and maybe realized she needed more attention or help than they could provide. Adopting an older child from another country or even this country can be difficult because of their backgrounds. They might not bond or they might have behavioral issues. Financially as an adoptive parent you are responsible for your child, unless you get their age changed. You could have to pay for psychiatrists, tutors, physical therapy, it would depend on health insurance but that might be more work than a family is willing to take on.