Girl dwarf whose adopted mum claims is adult who tried to kill her has new family

pA Ukrainian girl with dwarfism who was allegedly abandoned by her a data-content-type=section-topic data-link-tracking=InArticle|Link href=https://www.mirror.co.uk/all-about/fosteringfoster/a parents is now living with a devout Christian family who treat her as a teenage daughter./p pBizarre claims have emerged surrounding the adoption of Natalia Grace Barnett as well as questions about her real age./p pShe was initially adopted by Kristine Barnett, 45, and Michael Barnett, 43, who have been charged with neglect after they allegedly dumped her in a flat and moved away./p pKristine claims 3-ft tall Natalia was a 22-year-old sociopath who was pretending to be a child and tried to kill her family in a plot mirroring the horror film The Orphan./p img src=https://i2-prod.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article20311586.ece/ALTERNATES/s810/0_natalia-grace-now-living-with-a-new-family-Mum-Cynthia-Wilson-Mans.jpg title=Natalia Grace (bottom right) with Cynthia Mans and her children data-portal-copyright=Facebook pIt has now emerged that Natalia was taken in by Antwon Mans, a 36-year-old pastor, his wife Cynthia, 39, and their five children in Lafayette, Indiana./p pPhotos posted on a data-content-type=section-topic data-link-tracking=InArticle|Link href=https://www.mirror.co.uk/all-about/facebookFacebook/a show Natalia smiling in portraits with her new family, playing with the other children at a playground and wearing childrenapos;s clothes, including a pink Minnie Mouse outfit./p pA friend of the Mans family told a href=https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7507767/Ukrainian-dwarf-masqueraded-child-living-new-family.html target=_blankDailyMail.com/a they are quot;Good Samaritansquot; who came across an abandoned child in need of help./p pThe friend, who wasnapos;t named, said: quot;The Mans care for Natalia and she likes being there. Thereapos;s nothing crazy going on or anything. These are good people./p img src=https://i2-prod.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article20311584.ece/ALTERNATES/s810/0_natalia-grace-now-living-with-a-new-family-Mum-Cynthia-Wilson-Mans.jpg title=Nataliaapos;s former foster mum claims she was an adult pretending to be a child data-portal-copyright=Facebook pquot;Iapos;m not a doctor or a psychiatrist but Iapos;ve spoken with Natalia and I believe her. If youapos;re asking me if I think she is 30, thatapos;s ridiculous.quot;/p pThe Mans tried to become Nataliaapos;s legal guardians in 2016 but they later withdrew their petition after the court upheld an earlier ruling that she was born in 1989 and not 2003, it was reported./p pThe Mans have tried to speak to the Barnetts and go through the courts to adopt Natalia but they didnapos;t get anywhere in either approach, the family friend said./p pA doctor who examined Natalia in 2010 - the year she was adopted - determined that she was about eight-years-old, but in 2012 the Barnetts - now divorced - legally changed her age to 22./p img src=https://i2-prod.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article20162601.ece/ALTERNATES/s810/0_Kristine-and-Michael-Barnett.jpg title=Kristine Barnett, who has been charged with neglect, claims Natalia is an adult data-portal-copyright=Tippecanoe County Jail pThe doctorapos;s estimate would make Natalia 16 or 17 in 2019. But according to the earlier court ruling she would turn 20 this year, and according to Kristine she would be 30 today./p pKristine sensationally claims Natalia threatened to stab her and her then-husband in their sleep, pushed her towards an electric fence and poured bleach in her coffee./p pKristine told a href=https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7479061/Mom-claims-Ukrainian-daughter-9-adopted-really-22-year-old-dwarfism.htmlDailyMailTV:/a quot;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.quot;/p img src=https://i2-prod.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article20311589.ece/ALTERNATES/s810/0_natalia-grace-now-living-with-a-new-family-Mum-Cynthia-Wilson-Mans.jpg title=The Mans consider Natalia a teenage child, a family friend says data-portal-copyright=Facebook pIn an interview with a href=https://www.wishtv.com/news/crime-watch-8/parents-accused-of-abandoning-adopted-child-in-apartment-mom-says-its-a-scam/WISH-TV,/a Kristine claimed Natalia - who has a bone disorder, spondyloepimetaphyseal dysplasia - was diagnosed as both a psychopath and sociopath./p pKristine denied accusations that she neglected Natalia./p pShe claims doctors examined Natalia and concluded she was suffering a severe psychological illness only diagnosed in adults./p pKristine alleges the illness led to Natalia jumping from moving cars and smearing blood over mirrors./p img src=https://i2-prod.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article20311588.ece/ALTERNATES/s810/0_natalia-grace-now-living-with-a-new-family-Mum-Cynthia-Wilson-Mans.jpg title=Photos posted on Facebook show Natalia playing with her new siblings data-portal-copyright=Facebook pShe claims the couple had Nataliaapos;s age quot;correctedquot; after a physician told them Nataliaapos;s 2003 birth date was wrong and the daughter had made a career out of pretending to be a young child./p pOn Wednesday, after the interview, Kristine wrote on Facebook: quot;I am praying for Natalia who I believe is ill and I am dismayed by the way that our mental health system treats people. /p pquot;The state of Indiana actually discharged Natalia into a half way house over a year before this making her homeless and mentally ill. /p pquot;Natalia is and always has been an adult in the time that I knew her but that did not stop me from always seeking her best interest.quot;/p img src=https://i2-prod.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article20311590.ece/ALTERNATES/s810/29749524_558299564542191_1876479809202510946_o.jpg title=Natalia was taken in by the Mans after she was allegedly abandoned data-portal-copyright=Facebook pNatalia suffers from a rare form of dwarfism that means she is 3ft tall and has problems walking./p pBecause of her condition it has been difficult for doctors to determine her age./p pWhen she was adopted it was claimed she was six./p pIn 2010 a doctor said she was about eight, and an evaluation in 2012 showed that she was a minor aged about 10 or 11, according to a police affidavit./p img src=https://i2-prod.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article20163218.ece/ALTERNATES/s810/0_She-tried-to-kill-us-Indiana-mother-who-adopted-6-year-old-Ukrainian-girl-with-dwarfism-has-been.jpg data-portal-copyright=Kristine Barnett pThe Barnetts had Nataliaapos;s age changed to 22 and later rented an apartment in Lafayette and left her there alone, according to police./p pThe foster parents moved to Canada with their two sons, where one of them was attending a prestigious physics school west of Toronto./p pPolice have now charged the Barnetts with neglect, claiming Natalia was abandoned./p pAccording to the affidavit, Michael admitted to police that he and Kristine had Nataliaapos;s age changed to 22 even though doctors had determined she was a minor./p img src=https://i2-prod.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article20162602.ece/ALTERNATES/s810/0_Kristine-and-Michael-Barnett.jpg title=Michael Barnett, Nataliaapos;s former foster dad, has also been charged with neglect data-portal-copyright=Tippecanoe County Jail pThe document states: quot;Michael Barnett admitted Kristine Barnett told Natalia to tell others Natalia looked young but was actually 22.quot;/p pOne of the coupleapos;s friends back in Indiana told TV station a href=https://www.wlfi.com/content/news/Friend-Barnetts-were-scammed-into-adoption-girl-was-an-adult-the-whole-time-561149941.htmlNews 18/a that the Barnetts were quot;scammedquot; into adopting the girl./p pThe friend, who wasnapos;t named, said: quot;She just found out two weeks ago through the media that sheapos;s in trouble./p pquot;She said there were two trials years ago to re-age the girl./p pquot;It wasnapos;t like its something the state doesnapos;t know happened./p img src=https://i2-prod.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article20311583.ece/ALTERNATES/s810/0_natalia-grace-now-living-with-a-new-family-Mum-Cynthia-Wilson-Mans.jpg title=Natalia wears a pink Minnie Mouse outfit in a family photo data-portal-copyright=Facebook pquot;Sheapos;s very confused as to why all of this were to come up.quot;/p pThe friend claims the girl had severe mental health issues when the Barnetts adopted her and had physically attacked the family, who believed she was older than they were told./p pThe friend also claims Natalia was meant to be living on her own under the care of doctors./p pCourt documents show she was evicted from the flat in 2014./p pMargaret Axson, who lived on the same street, told News 18 that she was friends with Natalia and they had attended an adult learning centre together until one day Natalia stopped coming to class./p pIt also emerged Natalia had briefly attended a high school for adults and older youth./p pThe Mansapos; family friend said she has been unable to attend high school since she was taken in by the couple./p pThe Barnetts were featured in a 60 Minutes report in 2012 that highlighted their son Jacob, a physics prodigy with an IQ higher than Albert Einstein./p