Is Good American Family based on a true story? Details revisited 

Hulu's upcoming true-crime limited series, Good American Family, is based on the true story of a Ukrainian-born American girl, Natalia Grace.

The story, which became national news in September 2019, is full of twists and turns with no precedent.

After an American family, the Barnetts adopted a Ukrainian child with dwarfism, they started to suspect that the girl was lying about her age and was actually an adult. They filed a petition with the Marion County court to change her birth year and placed her in an apartment before leaving for Canada with their three biological children.

The bizarre story has already been covered in a true-crime documentary film trilogy titled The Curious Case of Natalia Grace on Max.

Now, this new Hulu series will re-examine this case from the point of view of both parties with an unbiased perspective and give a fresh spin to the story of Natalia Grace.

More on Good American Family in our story.

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What is the real story of Natalia Grace? Exploring the subject of Good American Family

Natalia Grace was diagnosed with a rare form of dwarfism called spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia congenita. In 2010, she was adopted by an American family, and Kristine and Michael Barnett became her new adoptive parents.

Soon, the Barnetts start suspecting Grace of sociopathic behavior and also accused her of lying about her age. The Barnetts adopted Grace when she was 7 years old, but according to them, she was 22 years of age and was lying.

In 2012, they filed a petition with the Marion County court to change Grace's birth year from 2003 to 1989 and later abandoned her in an apartment in Lafayette, Indiana, and left for Canada.

In 2019, after prosecutors located Grace's birth mother, they confirmed that she was, in fact, a minor when the Barnetts adopted her. The family was thus charged with neglect against a dependant, but the charges were later dropped.

After Grace's abandonment, she was adopted by Antwon and Cynthia Mans, who claimed that the girl had not shown any signs of sociopathic behavior.

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Good American Family will present Grace's case in a new light

Hulu's Good American Family was created by Katie Robbins and will present Grace's case in a new light, considering both perspectives of the story.

As the official synopsis of the story reads:

"Told from multiple points of view, as a means to explore issues of perspective, bias, and trauma, this compelling drama is inspired by the disturbing stories surrounding a Midwestern couple who adopts a girl with a rare form of dwarfism,"

The dramatization will give a new spin to this national tale, and Grey's Anatomy Ellen Pompeo will star as Grace's adoptive mother, Kristine Barnett. In an interview with Vanity Fair, she discussed how the series will tackle this sensitive case:

“We’re coming up with our own version of what this story could have been, so this isn’t sort of a beat-for-beat of what their experience was,”

She added:

“It’s really what we do here, I guess, in Hollywood. We make entertainment that hopefully provokes thought, and we take a set of circumstances and put our spin on it.”

Good American Family will debut on Hulu on March 19, 2025.

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