Natalia Grace Barnett

Natalyah Grace Renee Mans (born Natalia Vadymivna Gava; ; September 4, 2003; formerly Natalia Lourdes Ciccone and Natalia Grace Barnett) is an American with dwarfism. Born in Ukraine, she was adopted by an American family at the age of six in 2010, but was allegedly abandoned three years later.

Kristine and Michael Barnett, her adoptive parents, claimed that Natalia was an adult, and, in 2012, they successfully sought a court order legally changing her birth year from 2003 to 1989. Via an August 2023 DNA test, a healthcare testing company estimated that Natalia was about twenty-two years old at the time of the test, supporting the contention that she was ten years old when her adoptive parents allegedly abandoned her in an apartment in 2013. Her date of birth has since been legally restored to her 2003 birth year. The Barnetts were later charged with neglect; Michael was acquitted in 2022, and charges against Kristine were dismissed in 2023.

Antwon and Cynthia Mans officially adopted Natalia Grace in June 2023. While she had been living with the Mans family for almost a decade prior to this, the legal adoption was finalized around the time of the docuseries "The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: Natalia Speaks". However, three days before Christmas 2023 , she left and is currently living in New York after allegations of controlling and abusive behavior towards Natalia from the Mans family. The claims of abuse have not been confirmed and in 2025 an official in Crawfordsville, Indiana reportedly stated "there is currently no ongoing investigation involving Antwon and Cynthia Mans or their residence."

As of January 2025, Natalia Grace lives with Nicole and Vincent DePaul in New York, a couple with dwarfism who provide her with a stable, supportive home.

Barnett is the subject of two television series, The Curious Case of Natalia Grace, a docuseries, and the Hulu dramatization Good American Family.

Early life and adoption Natalia Grace was born in Mykolaiv, Ukraine, on September 4, 2003, Her parents were Vadim "Vadik" Gava and Anna Volodymyrivna Gava . and his wife, Cynthia Mary Renee Mans, who noticed that Natalia struggled to live on her own. In 2016, they filed to become Natalia's legal guardians, describing her as an "alleged incapacitated person" who was 13 or 14 years old, changing her name to Natalyah Grace Renee Mans. The Barnetts were charged with neglect of a dependent but Michael was affirmed "not guilty" in 2022 and Kristine's charges were dismissed in 2023. If Natalia's court-assigned birth date of 1989 were correct, Gava would have given birth to Natalia at ten years of age. The prosecutors also obtained birth and hospital records from Ukraine which support Natalia's original September 4, 2003, birth date and were barred from presenting the evidence that Natalia was a minor child born in 2003 when she was left to live alone in an apartment, and the neglect case was tried based on Natalia's disability, not her age. The prosecution was barred from presenting such information and evidence as the court felt it did not have the authority to overrule the earlier 2012 ruling establishing her birth date as 1989.

Cynthia Mans, who took Natalia in after discovering her abandoned in the Lafayette apartment, said she believed that Kristine Barnett was inspired to legally change Natalia's age by the 2009 film Orphan. The Barnetts claimed that Natalia was lying about her age and also exhibited sociopathic behavior which is similar to the plot of that film. The Mans said that Natalia had not exhibited violent behavior while living in their home.

In December 2023, and stated to have originally "attempted to adopt" Natalia prior to her adoption by the Barnetts; Natalia has reported that she "always loved" the DePauls and wished that she could have "seen them more growing-up." in which she is played by Imogen Faith Reid.