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Kristine Barnett Claims to Have Reported Mans Family to Adult Protective Services Over Natalia Treatment
Natalia Grace‘s former adoptive mom Kristine Barnett has claimed that she reported her to Adult Protective Services after she went to live with Antwon and Cythina Mans, as she was concerned they were taking advantage of the former orphan.
In a lengthy Facebook post on Thursday, January 4, Kristine wrote that Natalia was “allowed to make her own adult decisions of where to live and what to do with her life and time while living where she has. While Natalia did live independantly as an adult she had very much support from our family and care and love until she decided to make the Manns her medicaid payee and they became responsible for her medical care and her income.”
“This was very upsetting to me at the time, and I reported this to adult protective services repeatedly because I was worried sick she was possibly being exploited for their rent money. Once the Manns were her payee and Natalia was a legal adult I had no real options at my disposal to be able to help and care for her which made me physically ill from worry about that fact,” Kristine continued.
Natalia has a form of dwarfism called spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia congenita and was adopted by Kristine and former husband Michael Barnett in 2010, believing she was an orphaned Ukranian child. The couple grew to have suspicions she was far older than they were led to believe, after allegedly seeing she had pubic hair and reportedly already had her period.
In 2012, the couple filed a petition with Indiana’s Marion County Probate Court to legally change Natalia’s age from 8 to 22. They moved her into an apartment in Lafayette, Indiana, and moved to Canada where they lived with their three biological sons.
While Natalia was in Lafayette, she was taken in by the Mans’ and eventually legally adopted by the couple. The heartwarming scene was shown during part 3 of Investigation Discovery’s The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: Natalia Speaks on Wednesday, January 3. Natalia called it the “happiest moment of my entire life.”
In her Facebook post, Kristine denied Natalia’s abuse claims and said she and Michel were “overly permissive as we all felt a tremendous amount of sympathy for Natalia and loved her while she lived with us” However, she did admit, “As a parent I have had good and bad days as a mom. … I am sure there were plenty of fails and some successes I had as a parent and mom but I was not abusive to my children.”
“Another important thing to mention is Natalia was never ‘abandoned.’ I did not ever leave or want to ‘get rid of’ Natalia,” Kristine added. She and Michael were charged with neglect of a dependent, but all charges were dropped.
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