What Happened to Kristine and Michael Barnett After They Were Arrested for Neglecting Natalia Grace?
One of the Barnetts appeared on TV with Natalia Grace in 2024—find out who and what was said
If you’ve watched Hulu’s Good American Family, you’ve likely been left wondering: Where are the Barnetts now? The shocking case of Natalia Grace—adopted by Kristine and Michael Barnett in 2010 and later at the center of a high-profile neglect investigation—has captivated viewers. Here’s everything we know about where the Barnetts ended up and what they’ve said about their adopted daughter since.
Who are Kristine and Michael Barnett?
The Barnetts were an Indiana-based family who adopted Grace in 2010. For three years, they all lived together, but the situation was reportedly the exact opposite of happy. Both Kristine and Michael—Natalia Grace’s adoptive parents—accused the little girl of scamming them and pretending to be younger than she was. They also said that Natalia Grace tried to kill them multiple times and even petitioned the state to “re-age” her by changing her birth year from 2003 to 1989.
Then, in 2013, Kristine, Michael and their three sons decided to leave the United States and head to Canada, reportedly so their eldest child, Jacob—who suffers from autism— could get a graduate degree in physics. To do so, they elected to leave the once-10-year-old and now legally 22-year-old Natalia Grace alone in her own apartment.
“I really disliked being the girl who was re-aged and lived in her own apartment,” Natalia Grace told People magazine in January 2025. “I didn’t understand why I was alone. I just knew I had this instinct in me to push and survive. All I was told was, ‘You’re 22 now. Whenever somebody asks you what your age is, you say you’re 22 and you tried to murder your family.’ I was taught to lie.”
Following that, Natalia Grace did get a variety of medical DNA tests done to prove that she was, in fact, a child. Her birth year was then changed back to 2003, and Kristine and Michael were arrested for neglecting a dependent.
The charges against both of them have since been dropped.
Where is Kristine Barnett now?
After filing for divorce in 2014, Kristine and Michael went their separate ways.
Kristine decided to publish a book about her son Jacob, The Spark: A Mother’s Story of Nurturing, Genius, and Autism. Since her arrest, she has stayed out of the spotlight and has not commented on how she feels about the Hulu depiction of her life in Good American Family, but she did share her thoughts on Natalia Grace in a now-deleted Facebook post.
“Natalia was a very much loved and cared for member of my family. She was not abused by anyone in my family. Let’s get straight to these allegations,” the post reportedly read, per Forbes. “Nobody ever took a belt to Natalia, and the allegations that she was ‘beaten’ are just plain false. Any discipline of Natalia was very minimal and was not out of the bounds of normal parenting. If anything, it was overly permissive as we all felt a tremendous amount of sympathy for Natalia and loved her while she lived with us.
“Living with Natalia did come with constant allegations about her treatment, which I believe was to lead people away from investigating her personal behaviors, which were extreme and usually of some sort of sexual or hurtful to towards others nature. So the accusations of being abused are a way to deflect what she is actively doing to hurt other people, and as well they themselves hurt other people,” she continued. “She has alleged abuse by anyone who has had long-term contact with her, as well as neighbors, teachers and even children that she claims were abusive to her. In my experience, they all were not abusing her.”
It is believed that Kristine still lives in Indiana, and it is unclear when she sees her sons.
Where is Michael Barnett today?
For Michael, post-divorce life looked a little different. He decided to continue speaking with Natalia Grace, and back in 2024, he even appeared in Season 1 of her tell-all series, The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: Natalia Speaks.
While on camera, the two discussed Kristine and the “abuse” they endured at her hands. Natalia Grace claimed that Kristine beat her with a belt and pepper sprayed her on several occasions, whereas Michael said he was mainly mentally abused.
“This is not easy,” Michael told Natalia Grace on the show. “I’ve learned recently you and I have the same monster: Kristine. We are here because we both were incredible victims of an otherworldly type of abuse. I had the same monster you did. I was exceptionally controlled and, put down and threatened and was minimalized. Anything that was who I was was ripped from me, and I was guided and instructed to be exactly what she wanted me to be.
“Her favorite threat was taking the boys away from me and making sure I would never see them again,” he continued. “I tried to leave her no less than 10 times. I ended up in the hospital regularly over it.”
As of publication, it remains unclear how he feels about the Hulu show or if he keeps in touch with Natalia Grace.
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