IN - Couple charged with abandonment of adopted child after legally changing her age, Sept 2019

[MsGazette]

Reuters Investigates - The Child Exchange



I don't get how this can be legal. I don't know what you are going through but this seems like a way to abuse kids.

Omg. This just sent me through a rabbit hole I didn’t even know existed. I read every part of this series...my eyes are burning! This topic needs to be a thread somehow.

 

[MsGazette]

I believe two separate, US doctors estimated her age at 8 and two years later at 11.

My thing is...why did they pick 22 and not just go with 18? Must be a reason. IMO

 

[claudianunes]

My thing is...why did they pick 22 and not just go with 18? Must be a reason. IMO

That's a good question. Being older than 21 you can do pretty much anything.

 

[KALI]

Okay, I checked. The horror movie "Orphan" was released in 2009.
If you have not seen it, it's actually a pretty good movie, as far as horror movies go.

 

[Ksprincess2]

Omg. This just sent me through a rabbit hole I didn’t even know existed. I read every part of this series...my eyes are burning! This topic needs to be a thread somehow.

I think there is a thread or atleast discussion about it on another thread because I remember posting about it. That article came out in 2013 so it's been awhile but I'll see if I can find where it's been discussed. I was a social worker when I was younger and saw it done quite a bit in the midwest. I actually will say it's typically a good thing for the child from my experience especially for kids with attachment disorders but can be horrible situations too. I don't think it's quite as common now that international adoption has slowed down so much.

 

[gitana1]

My thing is...why did they pick 22 and not just go with 18? Must be a reason. IMO

I don't know.

 

[Ksprincess2]

I'm so confused why they did a "emergency adoption" for a child in Florida they had never met. Adoptions are never emergency situations, an emergency foster placement yes but not an adoption. Adoptions are supposed to be forever and are not something that is rushed. The adoptive couple needs to have a home study done and a trial period to make sure things go well before an adoption is finalized. This sounds like a very shady adoption.

 

[squareandrabbet]

I'm curious as to whether their claim that this child was much older than they thought, came about around the same time as the horror movie about a same storyline?

I feel like the mother even referenced it specifically in the Daily Mail article.

 

[legalmomma]

My thing is...why did they pick 22 and not just go with 18? Must be a reason. IMO

By law a student with a disability can stay in public school until age 22. Once they reach 22 the school system no longer has responsibilities. I would assume they picked age 22 so she would then be outside the purview of public education responsibilities and oversight.

MB was scheduled to appear telephonically at a status hearing at 11 EST I saw on Indiana Courts docket online. This is the most bizarre situation and has gotten little press or coverage around Indianapolis.

 

[legalmomma]

Update from this mornings hearing. I cannot link the video or the article in full from my phone:

Records requested as Michael Barnett appears in court for first time via phone

hearing for the release of mental health records set for tuesday october 15th....a notice of the hearing will also go to the adopted girl....

If someone could post the video at the link that would be great.

 

[Breezie]

Indiana Couple Accused of Abandoning Daughter Says She Was Actually an Adult Who Tried to Kill Them

This article has a link to the doctors report.

http://media.heartlandtv.com/images/barnett-michael-document.jpg

 

[EvilOlivE]

Indiana Couple Accused of Abandoning Daughter Says She Was Actually an Adult Who Tried to Kill Them

This article has a link to the doctors report.

http://media.heartlandtv.com/images/barnett-michael-document.jpg

That doesn't really seem like a "report", it seems more like a doctor that knew the parents and just took their word for the other diagnosis and wrote a letter for them. I wonder if he even saw her records from the other doctors...

 

[Breezie]

That doesn't really seem like a "report", it seems more like a doctor that knew the parents and just took their word for the other diagnosis and wrote a letter for them. I wonder if he even saw her records from the other doctors...

The letter said he was her primary care doctor from 2010 to 2012. He would probably have been the one who referred her to the other doctors. If he made the referrals, he should have had access to the results. He may have taken their word about the dentist.

Some of the wording, like the description of Kristine and Michael, as the biggest victims sounds more like something she would have said than something a doctor would say.

 

[MsGazette]

The letter said he was her primary care doctor from 2010 to 2012. He would probably have been the one who referred her to the other doctors. If he made the referrals, he should have had access to the results. He may have taken their word about the dentist.

Some of the wording, like the description of Kristine and Michael, as the biggest victims sounds more like something she would have said than something a doctor would say.

The letter is definitely odd. And at first I thought the menstrual cycle was key but it doesn’t really prove anything. Girls have been known to be 9 or younger when they start, although the average is 12 years old. IMO

 

[MsGazette]

I just noticed that the Daily Mail posted pictures of her. I’m not a doctor, but she does look like she has dwarfism, IMO.

I don’t think I’m allowed to link it due to TOS but you can search the girl’s first and last name with Indiana and it came right up.

 

[1&2&3]

What a case! If I am understanding this correctly, the adopted girl has been lying about her age all along?

Has anyone given her an IQ test? Has she even been in school here in the US?

It is very sad that the original family who brought her to the states has passed her off as if she was an unwanted puppy!

I feel an investigation needs to go backwards to the original family who brought this child from Ukraine.

My opinions only.

 

[claudianunes]

The letter is definitely odd. And at first I thought the menstrual cycle was key but it doesn’t really prove anything. Girls have been known to be 9 or younger when they start, although the average is 12 years old. IMO

I had just turned 9 when I got mine. The ladies in my family have the great blessing (not!) of having their first menstruation very early. So, I don't even understand why a doctor would be surprised by a 11-year-old having her period.

 

[Indy_ar]

What a case! If I am understanding this correctly, the adopted girl has been lying about her age all along?

Has anyone given her an IQ test? Has she even been in school here in the US?

It is very sad that the original family who brought her to the states has passed her off as if she was an unwanted puppy!

I feel an investigation needs to go backwards to the original family who brought this child from Ukraine.

My opinions only.

The adoptive parents now claim that she is older but IMO they are not telling the truth. The father said initially when interviewed by police that the girl was a minor and that the wife had coached her (and him) to say she was 22. A doctor in 2012 calculated her age to be 11 based on cranial development which tends to be very accurate.

 

[Suglo]

LE has supposedly been investigating this since they abandoned her. It took almost five years to charge them. Somehow I have a feeling they did their homework before issuing these charges. If these parents had nothing to hide then why didn’t they get the authorities involved from the get go? Why weren’t they publicly speaking up about it? Wouldn’t you go to the authorities if there really was an adult posing as a child to scam adopters? I think their doctor and attorney who filed the motion to change her legal age were most likely bamboozled.

 

[claudianunes]

LE has supposedly been investigating this since they abandoned her. It took almost five years to charge them. Somehow I have a feeling they did their homework before issuing these charges. If these parents had nothing to hide then why didn’t they get the authorities involved from the get go? Why weren’t they publicly speaking up about it? Wouldn’t you go to the authorities if there really was an adult posing as a child to scam adopters? I think their doctor and attorney who filed the motion to change her legal age were most likely bamboozled.

If they are being charged, I'm guessing LE had this girl examined by doctors to finally understand how old she is. And, if she was really 22 when they left her (which I don't believe), they could still be charged with abandonment or neglect of a dependent adult, taking into consideration that she most likely has some health issues.