TW: Spoilers, not completely accurate to real life story

“Good American Family” is an eight episode series based on the real life story of Natalia Grace Barnett. The series dives into the complexities of adoption, identity, and the blurred lines between truth and perception.

The series starts off with Kristine and Michael Barnett, who are played by Ellen Pompeo and Mark Duplass, a couple from Indiana, who adopt a young girl named Natalia Grace, who is played by Imogen Faith Reid, from Ukraine.

Kristine and Michael Barnett adopted Natalia Grace in the spring of 2010. At the time, Natalia was seven years old and had been diagnosed with a very rare kind of dwarfism.

Everyone was very kind and welcoming to Natalia; her brothers, Jacob, Ethan, and Wesley Barnett, cared for her as their own sister. Michael and Kristine were very loving, welcoming her with hugs and a stuffed animal.

Natalia became very aggressive with the Barnett family very quickly. On her first night home, Kristine told Natalia to take a bath, as Kristine was trying to help Natalia get in, but she refused and pushed Kristine causing her to get a bruise on her side.

On the first day of school, Ethan was looking for his stuffed cow. They were in a rush still waiting for Natalia to come down, Michael went to check in on her; he was playing around with her trying to shake her nerves for the first day of school when he saw a knife, and the stuffed cow under her bed. At first they didn’t tell Kristine but she later found out which convinced her even more that Natalia was an adult. 

There was another incident on the same day, as Ethan went outside and he stepped on thumbtacks that were deliberately placed on the floor. They thought Natalia placed these on the floor because she had a board in her room that had thumbtacks.

After the school day was over, Kristine was called into the office. The principal told her that Natalia was being aggressive with other students, running them over with her walker. Kristine defended her by saying other kids must’ve been verbally bullying her causing her to react, but the principal told her that no one was telling Natalia anything, and she was the one bullying other students.

The principal told Kristine that she needed other papers to see her medical history and other things to be able to properly enroll her. Kristine didn’t have these things, so she contacted the place they adopted Natalia then learned they closed down. 

After some research, she learned that they closed due to fraud and changing birth certificates. This caused her to believe that Natalia was working with the adoption agency “first path” so they can both benefit out of it.

One of the last things that convinced Kristine that Natalia was an adult, is when she was cleaning Natalia’s room and putting stuff away in her closet, she found hidden bloody socks. She thought these socks were from her period because she had also previously seen Natalia had hair in specific areas. 

The last incident before Kristine left was when Natalia got Ethan’s toy cars and began throwing them into the street. Kristine packed clothes for herself and her three boys and left for her mother’s house leaving Michael and Natalia home by themselves.

The following day Michael had an important interview in hopes of getting a new job. He left Natalia in the basement with snacks and different activities so she’d be distracted. 

During the interview, there were multiple knocks and rings at the doorbell, Michael paused the interview to answer the door when he saw the police, then Natalia came from the basement saying that she called the police because she was hungry. 

The interview ended while he was at the door, this caused an argument between Natalia and Michael when Natalia said, “I don’t want them to come back, I want them to die,” talking about their family. After this Michael and Natalia drove to Kristine’s mother’s house.

When they arrived Kristine and Natalia were having a conversation by an electric fence when there was a loud noise. Natalia had pushed Kristine into the fence causing her to burn her arm.

After this Kristine and Michael decided to lock Natalia in the basement so she couldn’t hurt them, or the boys. There was a lot of screaming, yelling, and banging, and there were a lot of police reports.

A detective came to investigate, this is when Kristine and Michael told the detective about their suspicions of Natalia being older than she really is. They gave the detective a file and he agreed with them saying that their suspicions were reasonable and suggested they change her date of birth (DOB).

In 2012 they petitioned a court to legally change Natalia’s DOB year from 2003 to 1989. The petition passed declaring Natalia an adult. The Barnett’s then moved to Canada leaving Natalia behind in her own apartment in Indiana. 

The show ends on the sixth episode where a doctor believes Natalia is a child because her growth plates were uneven. 

The last two episodes are still waiting to come out, but in real life a DNA test confirmed Natalia was born in 2003. The Barnetts were later charged with neglect, but Michael was acquitted, and charges against Kristine were dismissed.

She was eventually adopted by the Man’s family in 2023. However, allegations of mistreatment surfaced, and Natalia later moved in with Nicole and Vincent DePaul, a couple who had previously tried to adopt her. She now plans to become a teacher and is looking forward to a brighter future.