In 2012, a strange adoption scandal began to unravel. Natalia Grace, a Ukrainian orphan adopted by the couple Kristine and Michael Barnett, was accused of not being nine years old as she claimed, but rather twenty-two. The Barnetts, determined to prove their case, lined up doctors and lawyers to legally present Natalia Grace as a cunning, deceptive woman rather than a little girl who had dwarfism and had undergone severe trauma. The media capitalized on this story, with adaptations ranging from “The Curious Case of Natalia Grace” (2023) to, most recently, “The Good American Family.” “The Good American Family” exploits Natalia Grace for profit by portraying her as villainous and creating an unconscious bias against her.
Despite factual evidence against Natalia’s deception, the show does feed into conspiracy theories and portrays her as villainous, affecting viewers’ perception of her. After the second family adopted Natalia, her age was verified via DNA test, making her nine years old at the time of adoption. “The Good American Family” opens with Kristine Barnett’s point of view, suggesting that Natalia may not be trustworthy. However, in the real case, Natalia was abused by her adoptive family and even forced to lie by the Barnetts, according to Mercuri. The show’s ominous music and selective editing cast doubt on Natalia, even when the facts are clear. As a result, reviewers are misled, proven by their uninformed reviews on the show. A reviewer reported, “However, I must assert that Natalia has been dishonest about numerous aspects . . . The consensus among medical professionals is resolute – she is not a child and cannot even speak Ukrainian. It is disheartening that some are swayed by her deception” (2025). By having the viewers “decide who to believe,” the show helps circulate uninformed and harmful reviews like these, fake facts that affect a real person today.
The show also helps perpetuate the “disabled villain” trope, creating stereotypes about disabled people in a manipulative light. Natalia has dwarfism, and as a result of the effects of her medical condition, the Barnetts instead assumed she was older and lying. In a YouTube video called “Natalia Grace DEFENDS Herself Against Allegations,” yet another broadcast of the newest episode for the 2023 docuseries, the comment section reveals the still divided public opinion of Natalia Grace, a commenter writing “This is weird. Because Natalia comes across [as] deceptive too”. It is striking how the case continues to go on and on because of the profit made from it, at the cost of the real Natalia’s mental well-being. Seeing people not believe her, and choosing to believe dramatized stories over proof of her credibility, makes her unable to put that part of her life behind her. The dramatized story of “The Good American Family” had more negative effects than one: selective clips from the show on social media contributed to the misinformation, with viewers considering Natalia as “creepy” and taking the side of the abusive parents. The disabled villain trope may even help to foster unconscious bias about disabled people, leading people to scrutinize actions rather than show sympathy.
The third and final family Natalia is staying with, the DePauls, have reported that although Natalia has never exhibited violent behavior (as the Barnetts claimed), they recalled an incident where she secretly recorded them. This is likely a result of Reactive Attachment Disorder, or RAD, which is a behavioral condition common in children who have spent time in orphanages. Not only is this a reflection of the trauma Natalia endured in an orphanage, but also the mistreatment and eventual abandonment by the Barnett family, and the abuse from the second family, the Mans’.
Ultimately, the “Good American Family” isn’t there to establish the truth about Natalia; it exists for profit and views like any other show. Unfortunately, this has real-life implications. Its purposeful ambiguity, designed to create controversy and suspense, isn’t beneficial in a show affecting a real person trying to overcome her trauma and move on. The continual revisiting of this story, which doesn’t allow Natalia Grace to move on, needs to end.
