Kristine and Michael Barnett - adoptive parents

[Palimpsest]

@Cleopatra, the "rehoming" of unwanted adopted children is becoming something of a national scandal.  It has probably always happened, but started reaching epic proportions after the Great Evangelical Rush to Adopt.  https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/04/christian-evangelical-adoption-liberia/

Rehoming unwanted or "difficult" children basically exploded with the development of the internet.  May people advertise their children on Facebook or other social media and dump them off with little or no follow-up or official paperwork.  We have followed several sad cases here where this goes very wrong.  Children are passed off to abusers and killers.  

Of course there are some good and well-meaning adoptive parents who are lied to by bad adoption agencies about the specific needs and issues of some children.  And there are some not-so-good and unprepared adoptive parents who toss less than perfect children in the trash.  And there are many people in between those two extremes.  Adoption is not simple. Nor is it ever risk-free.

Unofficial rehoming is quasi-legal in some states but illegal (thank goodness) in others.  There are agencies like Second Chance Adoptions which are somewhat respectable. I have issues with them too.  https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2018/11/children-who-have-second-adoptions/575902/

Sadly, many children are transferred to different "parents" in different states with no papers, no social workers, and no protections at all.  Yes, it amounts to child trafficking.

Pound Pup Legacy and other advocacy organisations try to document the cases that end up in tragedies, but many illegal transfers of children are probably never discovered.  

I don't have much of an opinion on the Barnett case yet.  Except I don't trust Kristine for some reason.  We'll see, if or when this case ever gets to court.

[FiddleDD]

Michael Barnett shares his side of the story here: https://www.theindychannel.com/news/local-news/crime/father-claims-adopted-daughter-was-really-an-adult-with-dwarfism-who-tried-to-kill-his-family

[HarryPotterFan]

Here’s a post from reddit with a bunch of links and info. The poster does give some of their own opinions. I didn’t realize Kristine sold the story to the Daily Mail when she was first charged.

Link in spoiler because it automatically embedded.

Spoiler

 

 

[Cleopatra7]

The picture of Natalia with her new family is pretty damning for the Barnetts. She clearly looks like she has physically changed via puberty since she was on their care. She is still a dwarf, but she doesn’t look like she could pass as a prepubescent child. 

[moreorlessnu]

On 9/27/2019 at 4:58 PM, HarryPotterFan said:

Not sure how the doctor can say that the age on her initial paper work is “clearly inaccurate” and go on to state that traditional methods of approximating age don’t work.

I thought this was because the paperwork listed her birth date as 9/4/3 as opposed to the usual format of 9/4/03.

[unsafetydancer]

Gah, I get some serious "Autism Warrior Parent" vibes from Kristine. Creepy. She tried to reframe her son's achievements as her own and no doubt would tell you how "hard" it is to be his parent. These people fucking disgust me.

[Terrie]

25 minutes ago, unsafetydancer said:

Gah, I get some serious "Autism Warrior Parent" vibes from Kristine.

Reading the reviews of her book, it sounds like she tries to take credit for her son being a genius. Like you said, it's creepy.

[unsafetydancer]

It pisses me off when I see parents treating their autistic kids like a zoo exhibit or a prizewinning dog. We're human beings and we're capable of doing these things on our own.

[HarryPotterFan]

13 hours ago, unsafetydancer said:

Gah, I get some serious "Autism Warrior Parent" vibes from Kristine. Creepy. She tried to reframe her son's achievements as her own and no doubt would tell you how "hard" it is to be his parent. These people fucking disgust me.

Those types of people drive me nuts as well. I get certain things can be exhausting for a parent, like a child who has meltdowns everyday or something. But they never talk about how hard life can be for the CHILD. It’s “help ME” not “help my child.” 

Edited October 15, 2019 by HarryPotterFan

[Cleopatra7]

The Daily Fail claims to have found Natalia’s birth mother, who says she gave birth to her 16 years ago in keeping with her original age:

https://news.yahoo.com/alleged-biological-mother-ukrainian-adoptee-143817155.html?.tsrc=daily_mail&uh_test=2_15

(a different link for those who don’t want to give the daily fail clicks)

Given how rare this form of dwarfism is, it might have been relatively easy to narrow down who Natalia’s birth mother was, since it was probably the only instance of it ever happening in Ukraine.

[PlentyOfJesusFishInTheSea]

Holy shit, I remember Kristine's Ted talk about supporting her autistic son. He's doing a PhD in my neck of the woods. I hope he's escaped the crazy.

[unsafetydancer]

11 hours ago, PlentyOfJesusFishInTheSea said:

Holy shit, I remember Kristine's Ted talk about supporting her autistic son. He's doing a PhD in my neck of the woods. I hope he's escaped the crazy.

Can we stop giving TED talks to autism parents and start giving them to autistic people.

I also hope he has escaped the insanity, the more I read about Kristine, the more she seems totally nuts.

[JermajestyDuggar]

This couple was thinking about adopting her in 2009. They also have dwarfism. They spent some time with her and decided not to adopt her. They believe she is a child and said she had lost a tooth and another was coming in when they met her. 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7636651/Couple-dwarfism-hoped-adopt-Ukrainian-girl-say-not-posing-adult.html