Shraman Mitra
Michael and Kristine Barnett were oblivious to the problems they would face after adopting Natalia Grace, a six-year-old Ukraine native, in 2009. While it did not take long for the Barnetts to notice that she might be much older than the birth certificate stated, she also took a liking to violence and appeared ready to harm her adoptive family. Investigation Discovery’s ‘The Curious Case of Natalia Grace’ chronicles the shocking incident and even portrays how a Ukrainian woman named Anna Gava revealed herself as Natalia’s birth mother. As such, it is hardly a wonder that one might be intrigued by the case details and would want to find out where Anna is nowadays.
Who is Anna Gava?
Although not much is known about Anna Gava, reports state that she is a Ukrainian native born in 1979 who grew up in a close-knit family alongside a twin sister. She and her sister, Tatyana Gava, shared a close bond since childhood, and the latter knew that Anna had agreed to let a foreign couple adopt her daughter, Natalia. However, Tatyana insisted that her sibling had been hounded by journalists ever since she sent Natalia away, which forced the Ukrainian native to live a private life.
Anna was initially overjoyed when she got pregnant with Natalia (called Natasha in Ukraine), but the doctors soon discovered that the child would be born with a rare form of dwarfism called Spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia congenita. Hence, they advised her to give the baby away as she would not be able to move properly and might have to live her entire life in agony. However, as a mother, Anna could never abandon her baby, so she contacted authorities and arranged for Natalia to get adopted by Gary and Diane Ciccone, a couple from the United States.
Gary and Diane brought Natalia to the US in 2008, but within months, they were looking for a way out of the arrangement. In fact, the show mentioned that they tried to give her away to random couples at several Little People conventions, and they even contacted authorities for an emergency adoption. That was when Kristine and Michael Barnett welcomed Natalia into their house.
Anna Gava Prefers to Lead a Quiet Life Today
Shortly after Natalia moved into the Barnett household, she reportedly showed signs of violence and even talked about harming her adoptive family. Moreover, while reports mention that she had regular periods and pubic hair, indicating her being older, Michael insisted that he woke up one night to find the Ukrainian native standing at the foot of their bed with a knife. Such allegations spread by wildfire, and soon Anna Gava found herself getting hounded by reporters at every corner. Still, she braved the reporters and revealed herself as Natalia’s birth mother in 2019.
Anna even insisted that her daughter was born in 2003, just like the original birth certificate stated, and claimed that Natalia would never be capable of the things the Barnetts accused her of. At the same time, she made an open plea to her daughter, asking her child to forgive her and visit Ukraine as soon as possible, as she had three other siblings who could not wait to meet her. At present, Anna prefers to stay away from the media frenzy, even though reports state that she resides in Mykolaiv in Ukraine, near the Black Sea. Besides, it is also unclear if she is in contact with Natalia, who currently lives with Antwon and Cynthia Mans in Indiana.
As for Natalia’s response to Anna’s pleas, it does not seem like the former is in any mood for reconciliation with her alleged biological mother. In ‘The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: Natalia Speaks,’ Natalia claimed that while she understood Anna’s wishes of wanting her back, the Mans family is the only one she recognized as her own. Hence, she stated that she felt no need to reconnect with her past, especially since she is apparently still traumatized by her time in the Ukranian orphanage where she seemingly spent the first few years of her life.
Read More: Where Are Antwon and Cynthia Mans Now?
