Couple Thought They Adopted A 6 Year Old Child Until They Saw Her Strange Medical Records

couple thought they adopted a six-year-old child until they saw her strange medical record [Music] it's a plot straight out of a movie a couple adopts a child only to find out she's not a child at all when christine and michael barnett sought to grow their family by adopting a child in need they couldn't have expected that it would lead to paranoia fear for their lives and a lengthy battle in court meet christine and michael barnett they lived in indianapolis with their three children by all accounts they were good parents actually they were considered by many to be great parents their son excelled and they seem to have everything together on the surface their son jake is a prodigy but it took quite a bit of work to discover that he was born with autism and was developmentally delayed christine however fought for him and this level of support allowed jake to prosper and achieve things his teachers never imagined that he could when jake was young he retreated into a shell doctors said he would never be able to read write or even tie his own shoes christine worked tirelessly to get him out and at work he enrolled in college at age 10 using his incredible knowledge of mathematics and science by age 12 jake had published his first academic paper his parents were interviewed about this extraordinary achievement they appeared on 60 minutes to talk about their experience as parents christine even wrote a parenting book the spark a mother's story of nurturing genius and autism jacob wasn't the only child in the family who required special care wesley was born with reflex sympathetic dystrophy it's a neurological disease that causes chronic pain christine and michael supported him as well they were no ordinary parents but with their next child they would have to overcome more than they ever had before it's no surprise they wanted to adopt originally they were planning to adopt a girl from haiti unfortunately the earthquake made that impossible they didn't give up though in 2010 they adopted a little girl from ukraine not only that they adopted a girl who would require her own special care natalia had dwarfism they weren't sure of her age but doctors who examined her thought that she was either 8 or 11 or somewhere in between but the barnettes thought something wasn't quite right when christine was giving natalya a bath she noticed she had full pubic hair this startled them because they knew that was abnormal for a child this however was only the beginning of their problems with natalya according to the barnettes natalia began to terrorize the family she would make statements and draw pictures saying she wanted to kill family members roll them up in a blanket and put them in the backyard christine said she was standing over people in the middle of the night you couldn't go to sleep we had to hide all the sharp objects i saw her putting chemicals bleach windex something like that in my coffee and i asked her what are you doing she said i'm trying to poison you said christine she was jumping out of moving cars she was smearing blood on mirrors she was doing things you could never imagine a little child doing natalia was threatening the family while at the stress center she was documenting she was telling the doctor she was telling therapists she was writing down on her notepad not only am i trying to kill christine but i'm going to kill the brothers too here's how i'm going to do it here's what i'm going to do with their body said michael the barnett sought help from doctors but what they discovered was troubling the doctors all confirmed she was suffering a severe psychological illness only diagnosed in adults christine said something was going on and it seemed like the barnettes were seriously out of the loop there were other signs that pointed to natalya being an adult according to christine she had periods she had adult teeth on top of that natalia never grew a single inch which would happen even with a child of dwarfism how old was natalya in 2012 natalya admitted to doctors that she was over 18. according to doctor she said that she was perpetuating the age misconceptions in order to be treated as a child by parents and strangers concerned that they were in danger the barnettes had to do something about it they went to the courts at marion superior court they submitted an emergency petition it was to have natalia's age changed the petition was granted natalia's birthday was legally changed from september 4th 2003 to september 4th 1989. in a day natalya went from 8 to 22. as an adult they were no longer required to parent her the barnettes claimed they did this to get natalya the appropriate help she needed not only that they helped her secure social security disability payments they enrolled her in food stamps they wanted her to be independent but their kindness for natalia would go unappreciated they helped her find an apartment in this house they gave her three months rent then they left the entire family packed up and moved to canada where jake was attending school at a prestigious institute for physics this wasn't the end of the story however natalia got evicted from her apartment when authorities came she said she hadn't seen her parents since they moved up north authorities were appalled that parents had abandoned their child prosecutors charged the barnettes they were each charged with two counts of felony neglect of a dependent they turned themselves in so they could be arrested they both pleaded not guilty after all the pain and fear they had gone through a battle in court proved to be the last straw but the fight hadn't stopped there there has been a back and forth of interviews accusations are flying it began with the barnett's who due to the stresses of this situation ended their relationship and filed for divorce when news stories painted them to be abusers who abandoned their child the barnettes went to set the record straight they detailed their saga in an exclusive interview they provided medical records to back up their claims they wanted the world to know natalia was an adult michael even appeared on the dr oz show on it he claimed natalya was a sociopath he claimed she was scamming them by pretending to be a child so she would have all of her expenses taken care of he wanted to set the record straight once and for all a gag order was issued it prevents the couple from discussing natalya's medical mental or education records in media interviews in response natalia started doing interviews herself she even had her own dr phil appearance after the barnettes were on the show natalya disputes that she is an adult not only that another couple has tried to adopt her the man's pictured above put in a petition to become her guardian there's only one problem the 2012 legal ruling that she is an adult which prevents her from being adopted a judge held an in-depth hearing the judge not only reviewed medical records but interviewed witnesses the result the judge upheld the original results and the couple dropped the guardianship petition when it comes to family matters natalya is still an adult the barnett's criminal case goes to trial in 2020 you