Diksha Sundriyal
Hulu’s ‘Good American Family’ follows the story of Kristine and Michael Barnett, whose lives take an unexpected turn when they adopt a seven-year-old girl named Natalia Grace. They thought they were giving a loving home to her, but in return, they are terrorized by her to the point that they have to eventually abandon her. Or at least, that’s their side of the story. The show takes turns covering the perspectives of other characters, especially Natalia, to reveal that there is more to the story than meets the eye. One of the people who witnesses this turn of events in the Barnett family is Valika. She is the parent of a child who goes to Kristine’s daycare, and due to the help that her child receives, Valika greatly values Kristine. Due to this, she is more prone to believing whatever her friend says, which becomes an important plot point in the show.
The Fictional Valika Represents the Friends of the Barnetts
A lot of what we see in ‘Good American Family’ is based on the accounts of Kristine and Michael Barnett and Natalia Grace. Some of it is real, some of it is claims, and some parts of the story are fictional, like Valika (Sarayu Blue). With all that has happened with her and her family since Natalia’s arrival, Kristine needs a confidant whom she can share with the struggles of raising her adoptive daughter and the horrors she experiences because of the girl. Valika becomes that support system for Kristine. She sees her friend as nothing less than a saint, at least in the beginning. All she has ever seen Kristine do is help people and not ask for anything in return. When Valika tries to donate money to her daycare center, Kristine initially refuses it, confirming for Valika that she works entirely out of the goodness of her heart. However, over the years, as new details about the case come to light, she is forced to reconsider everything.
In real life, Kristine Barnett received similar support from her friend circle, especially after she and her ex-husband were charged with child neglect. While most of her acquaintances and Kristine herself preferred not to talk about the case in public, there was one friend who spoke to the journalists about it. The unnamed friend said that Kristine was just as confused as the rest of the world about the charges levied against her. She also supported the claims made by the Barnetts, alleging that Natalia had severe mental health issues when the couple had adopted her in 2010.
Kristine’s friend also went on to detail other claims where she described the Barnett family’s adoption experience as “traumatic,” claiming that young Natalia had physically attacked the family members. A major part of the case against the Barnetts relied on the fact that they had left then-11-year-old Natalia to fend for herself in an apartment in Lafayette while they themselves moved out of the country to settle in Canada. The family friend confirmed that the couple did, in fact, get the said apartment for Natalia but repeated the claim that the girl was older for her age and, at the time, was also under the care of doctors. The show takes all these details and more into consideration and presents an outsider’s point of view into the chaos of the Barnett family through the eyes of the fictional Valika.
Read More: Good American Family: True Story of Natalia Grace, Explained
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