Diksha Sundriyal
Hulu’s ‘Good American Family’ presents the fractured reality of the Barnett family. Based on true events, the story focuses on the adoption of a 7-year-old girl with dwarfism, Natalia Grace, by Kristine and Michael Barnett, and the events that led to her abandonment and the eventual criminal charges of child neglect against her adoptive parents. There are different sides to every story, and the Hulu series tries not to stick to a particular one to tell this tale. Instead, we get the perspectives of the Barnetts and Natalia Grace to show us what might have happened, or at least how certain events may have been perceived. The first two episodes tell the story from the point of view of Kristine Barnett. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Kristine and Michael Barnett Try to Complete Their Family with Natalia
Kristine and Michael Barnett are the pillars of the community. Much of the limelight falls on Kristine and her three sons, Jacob, Wesley, and Ethan. She runs a daycare and is just as popular with the kids as she is with their parents, particularly Valika, who believes that her child has improved drastically under her care. It seems that things are going well for the Barnetts, or at least for Kristine. She has recently received a grant and considerable aid from the church, which has allowed her to expand her operation. She is planning to open a new place, which is inspired by her time with her son Jacob, who is on the autism spectrum.
Kristine was told by the doctors that her son would never read or talk again, among several other things. However, she refused to accept it and focused on helping Jacob find his spark. Eventually, not only did the boy start to read and write, but he turned out to have an exceptional brain. Caring for him inspired Kristine to start a daycare for children with autism, and this is what she is entirely focused on now. Meanwhile, her husband is trying to cope with the loss of Blanca, their adoptive daughter, who was taken away from them when her biological relatives showed up. Kristine and Michael had grown very attached to her, but the court believed that she should be with her blood relatives, so they had to say goodbye to her.
The hole left behind by Blanca gapes at the Barnetts, and its impact is felt in their marriage, which seems to be getting worse by the day. This is when a ray of hope emerges. Kristine gets a call from an adoption agency called First Path. It turns out that they have a girl who needs someone like the Barnetts to adopt her. Her name is Natalia Grace and she has been abandoned by her previous adoptive family. The adoption agent says that it might be because she is a person with dwarfism, and not everyone is equipped to take care of children with special needs. However, Kristine does not see why anything would keep her from taking care of Natalia the way she does her own sons.
Natalia Proves to be More Challenging Than Expected
Natalia’s arrival proves to be the balm that the Barnetts need to ease their pain, especially Michael. He bonds with the girl much easier than Kristine, who, after a point, starts to wonder if Natalia hates her. Having worked with all kinds of children for so long, Kristine knows that adjusting to a new family takes time. This makes her explain away Natalia’s temper tantrums. Over time, however, she starts to notice weird things about the girl. She notices that Natalia does or says certain things to cause a rift in the family, especially her and Michael, the latter of whom is entirely convinced that Natalia can do no wrong.
Kristine’s suspicions gain more footing as she discovers that too much of the girl’s past has been redacted. Having worked with adoptive kids before, she knows that there are certain things, especially in a closed adoption, that are not revealed to the adoptive parents. But then, the more things get worse at home, the more she becomes interested in finding out what Natalia’s files are hiding. This search begins with something that is asked by the school where she is enrolled. When they discover that there is no record of her previous schooling or the details of her last vaccinations, they tell Kristine that Natalia cannot be admitted to a new school without it.
When Kristine calls First Path to get these details, she discovers that the agency is permanently closed. Not only this, it is under investigation for fraud and for robbing adoptive parents. All sorts of alarms go off in Kristine’s mind when she reads it because when they adopted Natalia, they had to pay seven grand for her surgeries. At the time, it seemed like an unusual request, and for a minute, they thought that they might not be able to go forward with the adoption. But then they were told that Natalia would be sent to a foster home while they made their decision, and that was something they couldn’t let happen.
It also turns out that First Path would take the children out of their well-adapted adoptive households, claiming that their blood relatives had come back to claim them, only for the adoptive parents to later discover that that was all a farce. When Kristine tries to reach the woman, Sandy Mosley, who had facilitated Natalia’s adoption, it takes a while for the woman to respond. And when she does call back, she tells Kristine that certain things were kept from her so that when the time came, she could plead innocence and wouldn’t be indicted. This confirms that something was not right with Natalia’s adoption, but more importantly, it means that something might be very wrong with Natalia.
The more time Kristine spends with the girl, the more her duplicitous nature seems to emerge. One night, Kristine is woken up in the middle of the night by Natalia, who has a knife in her hand. She also throws tantrums on almost everything, from going to school to taking a bath. Her mood swings also get worse, and there comes a time when Kristine starts to worry that Natalia might stab her with a knife. Meanwhile, Michael remains blissfully blind to all of her concerns. Eventually, Kristine finds the knife under her bed and the torn-off toy of one of her sons. To evade her, Natalia hides in the bathroom. When Kristine opens the door, she catches sight of something that suggests that Natalia is not a little girl but much older than she is made out to be.
Kristine and Michael Speak Different Truths Years Later
Natalia’s adoption takes place around 2010, but it is in the 2020s that the story opens, and Kristine starts narrating her side. By this time, she has become a local celebrity of sorts. Her success with children, especially Jacob, has led her to write books and spread the word about how to raise children with autism. But then, she is arrested on the charges of child neglect. The detective on the case, Brandon Drysdale, reveals that he talked to Daniel a week before Kristine’s arrest. It is interesting to note that the couple has been separated by this time. She has the boys, while Michael is with another woman named Jennifer.
According to Michael, Kristine was the one who lost her mind. He believes that her savior complex got the best of her when she impulsively decided to adopt Natalia. She thought that with the girl, she could replicate her success with Jacob. However, when the adoptive daughter proved to be more challenging and out of Kristine’s control, she didn’t know what to do, and that’s when everything started to spiral. About a week later, when Kristine hears her ex-husband’s words, she blames him for the things that happened.
Read More: Michael and Kristine Barnett: Where Are Natalia Grace’s Ex-Adoptive Parents Now?
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