In 2012, Kristine and Michael Barnett appeared on 60 Minutes alongside their then 13-year-old son Jacob, who was already a college sophomore and a prodigy at science and math. In one shot, the whole Barnett family can be seen, including Jacob's adopted sister Natalia, who Kristine and Michael are now accused of abandoning.
Police allege that in 2013, the Barnetts dumped their then nine-year-old Ukrainian-born daughter at an apartment in Indiana and then moved to Canada and broke off contact with her. The news was even more shocking because Natalia suffers from a rare form of dwarfism that causes her to only be three-feet tall with difficulties walking. However, Kristine and Michael say that they had a good reason to do what they did - Natalia was not nine - she was 22, and had attempted to kill them.
In a candid interview with DailyMailTV, Kristine gave her side of the story, explaining how she is being made out to seem like a child abuser when she says is actually an excellent mom, and Natalia is no child at all. She detailed how she and Michael were experienced foster parents when they brought a then "six-year-old" Natalia into their Indiana home from Florida in 2010, given just 24 hours to complete an emergency adoption after her previous adoptive parents suddenly gave her up for undisclosed reasons. At the time, the Barnetts only knew Natalia had been in America for two years and her Ukrainian birth certificate showed her birthday as September 4, 2003.
The Barnetts doted on Natalia, taking her to Disney World and to the beach, but soon they started questioning her age. During their first bath time, they noticed she had pubic hair. She also preferred playing with teenagers than with toys, and her vocabulary was very advanced for a six-year-old. At one point, she even said to Kristine, who was running a small school at the time, "These children are exhausting, I don't know how you do it." Natalia also couldn't remember anything about the Ukraine and when a Ukrainian friend of the Barnetts spoke to the girl in her native tongue, she didn't understand any of it.
When Kristine found evidence of blood on Natalia's clothes, showing she had her period was trying to hide it, the Barnetts took the girl to a doctor for a bone density tests to establish her real age. It proved she was at least 14 and likely older. At that point, her behavior turned. Kristine saw Natalia attack a baby boy on a baby monitor. She said Natalia would smear bodily fluids on walls, stand up over people in the middle of the night and make death threats. Kristine even once caught Natalia pouring bleach in her coffee. When she asked what she was doing, Natalia said, "I am trying to poison you." Barnett also claims Natalia tried to drag her onto an electric fence.
Kristine had her placed in a long-term state-run psychiatric facility where Natalia confessed to being older than she is. She also allegedly spoke about trying to kill family members with no remorse.
With more evidence from doctors that Natalia was older than six, the Barnetts got Natalia's age corrected to 22 so she could receive more appropriate psychiatric treatment. Even though she was now technically an adult and responsible for herself, the Barnetts continued to support Natalia, paying for her therapy, an apartment furniture and food, and helping her get a social security number and benefits too. When she was evicted from one apartment for causing problems, they helped her secure another. The spoke daily and Kristine advised Natalia on how to get her GED and become a cosmetologist.
The Barnetts moved to Canada so Jacob could attend a school there and Natalia stopped calling.
Then, in 2013, Natalia was evicted from her apartment and when police came, she told them she had been "left alone" by her adoptive parents, who moved to Canada. The authorities had tests that showed Natalia was indeed eight in 2010.
No word on why the state waited so long to arrest Kristine and Michael, but they are now out on a $5,500 bond. With a court case coming up, Kristine is devastated saying, "I am being charged by the state of Indiana for crimes against a child when the state of Indiana has determined multiple times that Natalia was an adult. From day one this was a mission of love. But when you bring a child into your home, you expect them to be a child. To be accused of this is a unconscionable to me. It’s just horrifying."
Photo: Tippecanoe Police Department, Facebook/Kristine Barnett