Going to the press and saying that Natalia is a murderous psychopath is legitimately absurd behaviour. Conduct disorder/difficult behaviour seems to be the norm for children from traumatic backgrounds. You don’t see other adoptive parents running to the press about this. Only someone looking for attention and desperate to appear like a victim would do that. A healthy person would just explain the situation in court instead of kicking up drama in the press that will negatively affect their entire family. What is the point?? Sounds like Kristine Barnett felt humiliated she was investigated and is only concerned about her reputation as a ‘super mom’. I have a ‘super parent’ I am convinced is medically abusing my vulnerable adult sibling. Strangely I have another sibling with a growth disorder (not dwarfism but somewhat similar). When I tried to openly talk about the situation, my family was told that actually, my behaviour has always been violent and psychopathic. That is what happens when you make someone like this ‘look bad’. They get desperate to make you look bad. Toxic family. I hope the children can put up boundaries and live healthy lives.
Ugh. I’m so sorry you’ve gone through that. My MIL is a borderline and I’ve encountered too many personality disordered people in my practice to know exactly what you’re talking about. I just dealt with one yesterday. It started out badly. My client was terrified to testify and spoke super softly and didn’t say anything of the things he told me. He just couldn’t explain anything. He was frozen.
The other side, who appears to be a combative narcissist, was calm and polished. She’s a screaming drunk who shows up to work wasted and has maltreated their child but she’s manipulative and used to getting what she wants. So she came across very confident and like a sorrowful victim. It was going badly.
Luckily this liar is so used to lying she didn’t remember I had specific evidence showing she’s had months to review an agreement the parties entered into that she claims she signed without seeing because he forced her to.
Except I had sent it to her and asked her to confirm this was the agreement she wanted me to file. When the judge got to see that everything changed and we won big. It was lovely. It’s rare a judge sees through someone like that so quickly (this was our first hearing) because they’re great at what they do. Convincing. Persuasive. Well spoken. They know how to make people feel sorry for them. But I had irrefutable evidence to counter her doe-eyed victim act. The judge told her she’s a liar and the next time she came back to court the judge would remember that!
I was so happy.
But what happens when you don’t have such direct evidence?
How about the father in TX who lost all custody of his child because the judge said he refused to accept his child was dying? The dad said the child was healthy but mom has Munchausen. Convinced the court for years as she subjected the poor child to unnecessary medical treatment and procedures that almost killed him.
She’s finally serving time and many months after she was arrested and charged the poor kid finally got to leave foster care and return to his father. (Someone here just sent me a link to the case, recently).
YEARS she fooled the system, both medical and legal.
Luckily nothing happened to N here. But you’re so right. It’s scary as hell. Just look at how easily she was able to convince so many people of her absurd and illogical story, even despite the five year investigation and charges and the clear photographic evidence showing the child’s progression from child to teenager. It’s bizarre.
I have cases that take years to untangle and to prove. We work super hard to protect the kids but the lying narcissist is great at turning the tables and claiming that the victim is “crazy” or has an ulterior motive.
I have another case in which my client has been happily remarried for five years and the seriously drunken father of her child keeps saying she brings him to court because she’s “jealous” he moved on and is angry and retaliatory. He has a new woman every few months (because they leave when they figure out what a sociopath he is) and my client is the one who filed for divorce. But she’s “jealous”.
Luckily, after years of these woman calling my client to tell her of the neglect occurring with the child but refusing to testify, one agreed. And provided us photographic and video evidence of the neglect.
Now dad lost custody and is strictly monitored in his visitation. Which he often gives up. And my “crazy” client hasn’t even gone back in to increase support. Because all she cares about is the safety of her kid.
It took us six years to fully prove the truth.
I’m sorry to keep relating this back to family law cases but it’s my world so it’s what I see.
But all I know is how hard it can be to reveal the truth to a medical or legal system when it comes to these convincing liars. They seem so honest that people will ignore blaring red flags in order to believe them. Here we have photos showing a little girl and this monster woman has convinced people to see an adult when looking at the photos, via a completely illogical narrative.
I do hope this poor kid can regain her life and be happy. And shake the horror film label those narcissists have give her.
