A new Hulu series dramatizing the saga of Natalia Grace has reignited public interest in one of the most contentious adoption cases in recent history. Good American Family stars Ellen Pompeo as Kristine Barnett and revisits allegations that Natalia, an orphan from Ukraine with a rare form of dwarfism, was actually an adult masquerading as a child.
Central to the narrative is whether her adoptive parents, Kristine and Michael Barnett, who were charged with neglect, ever went to jail and where they are now.
What To Know
Natalia Grace was born in 2003 and was adopted by Dyan and Gary Ciccone in 2008. She immigrated from Ukraine to New Hampshire, where the couple lived, but they relinquished their parental rights just two years later, citing her disruptive behavior, People reported.
Natalia was adopted by the Barnetts in Indiana in 2010. She was believed to be around 6 or 7 years old. However, in 2012, the Barnetts successfully petitioned an Indiana court to change her birth year to 1989, reclassifying her legally as a 22-year-old.
Time reported that the Barnetts claimed she displayed adult traits, including pubic hair, adult teeth and menstruation, which they argued suggested she was not a child.
From left: Mark Duplass, Imogen Faith Reid, and Ellen Pompeo arrive at an FYC screening of “Good American Family” in Los Angeles on March 13, 2025. From left: Mark Duplass, Imogen Faith Reid, and Ellen Pompeo arrive at an FYC screening of “Good American Family” in Los Angeles on March 13, 2025. Chris Pizzello/AP Photos
What Happened to Natalia Grace?
Following the court-approved change in her legal age, the Barnetts placed Natalia in an apartment in Lafayette, Indiana, and moved to Canada with their biological children. They then cut off contact with her. Natalia later moved in with Cynthia and Antwon Mans, who eventually adopted her in 2023. However, by the end of that year, she left the Mans’ home, alleging they had become controlling and restricted her communication with others.
Natalia now lives with the DePaul family in upstate New York. In the docuseries The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: Natalia Speaks, she described her time with the Barnetts as abusive, including allegations that Kristine Barnett pepper-sprayed her and hit her with a belt.
“This is not easy. I had the same monster you did,” Michael Barnett told Natalia in the show, referring to his ex-wife.
How Old Was Natalia Grace When the Barnetts Adopted Her?
According to her birth certificate, Natalia Grace was born in 2003, meaning she would have been around six or seven years old when the Barnetts adopted her in 2010. Newsweek reported that hospital and dental records supported this estimate, with one dentist determining she was about 8 or 9 years old based on 2011 X-rays. However, in 2012, a judge approved the Barnetts’ request to change her legal birth year to 1989.
In 2023, a blood test confirmed that Natalia was approximately 22 years old, suggesting that she had been 9 when the Barnetts adopted her, according to People.
“It just proves that I was not lying about my age,” Natalia said on Natalia Speaks. “They ignored everything that was pointing to the truth just so they could create this stupid lie.”
Did Natalia Grace’s Parents, Kristine and Michael Barnett, Go to Jail?
Neither Michael nor Kristine Barnett served jail time. Both were charged in 2019 with neglect of a dependent. Michael was found not guilty in 2022, and charges against Kristine were dropped in 2023.
In a deleted Facebook post, Kristine Barnett wrote: “If there had been any abuse of Natalia or evidence of it, I would have been found guilty of it and I would be in jail,” People reported.
She added, “I believe Natalia takes advantage of that sympathy to manipulate people.”
Where Are the Barnetts Now?
In 2013, Kristine published a memoir about her son, The Spark: A Mother’s Story of Nurturing, Genius, and Autism. In 2019, her address was listed in Florida, and she has largely remained out of the public eye.
Michael Barnett filed for divorce in 2014. He appeared in The Curious Case of Natalia Grace, expressing remorse over his role in the events. During a conversation with Natalia, he said, “I beat myself up for not being stronger.”
“I was a kid,” Natalia told him. “You were supposed to be my dad.”
What People Are Saying
Ellen Pompeo, who plays Kristine Barnett, said on The View about starring in Good American Family: “The reason I decided to do it was I had a Zoom, almost like a two or three-hour Zoom with Imogen Faith Reid who plays our Natalia—she is fantastic and it was her.
“Her conviction and her wanting to tell the story, and I have to say that it’s her first lead role ever. Her first role, her first speaking role ever, which is a lot to take on. She’s from the U.K., she’s not from here, and she came over and it was important for her to tell this story.”
Imogen Faith Reid, who plays Natalia Grace on Good American Family, told Today.com: “Our show does a brilliant job of playing with multiple perspectives and creating our own versions of our characters. And you really have to watch it all to get the full picture of what’s going on.”
What Happens Next
The Hulu series Good American Family premiered on March 19, with new episodes airing weekly. Pompeo told People that the dramatization aims to present both perspectives in an “intentional and thoughtful” way.
