Good American Family on Hulu

[Anonymous]

Is anyone watching this? As someone who had not closely followed the story it is based on at all, I found it fascinating and binged it this weekend.

I'm getting the sense that this is pretty 'one-sided' / is sharing the parents' side of what happened. But if the girl actually did act like this, holy sh!t, I'd want her out of my home too! I'm also confused what motivation the parents would have to lie about this and throw her out of their home if she did not do these disruptive things / was actually 8 or however old she claimed to be. They chose to adopt her?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is anyone watching this? As someone who had not closely followed the story it is based on at all, I found it fascinating and binged it this weekend.

I'm getting the sense that this is pretty 'one-sided' / is sharing the parents' side of what happened. But if the girl actually did act like this, holy sh!t, I'd want her out of my home too! I'm also confused what motivation the parents would have to lie about this and throw her out of their home if she did not do these disruptive things / was actually 8 or however old she claimed to be. They chose to adopt her?

I'm not watching the show. It's been categorically proven that the adoptive parents were lying, abusive, awful people who ended up leaving a disabled child to fend for herself. The wife is often painted as the primary perpetrator and the husband gets a bit of a pass, which I think is unwarranted. There's been an enormous amount of exploitative media, and yes, Natalia has participated in some of it, which some people criticize. How is she supposed to support herself? Unfortunately, the parents were very effective in getting their story out first.

[Anonymous]

I've watched a documentary on it and I suspect that the truth is somewhere in the middle. I am watching the Hulu Good American family on Hulu just for sheer entertainment purposes.

[Anonymous]

I'm watching. Very entertaining. Saw mention of the documentary in my feed.

[Anonymous]

The 2nd family that took the girl in and were staunch defenders of her have now also kicked her out and cut off all contact. There's something very wrong with the original family, but the "girl" is clearly an issue too. Even the hospital staff that took care of her thought she was older than she stated.

[Anonymous]

I'm watching and agree with other posters that it's entertaining. I keep seeing advertisements for a documentary (it might be on Netflix, but I can't remember for sure) that I plan to watch at some point. I think that one is more from Natalia's POV.

[Anonymous]

I read the story and am not watching the show. I need happier fare these days as our country crumbles.

[Anonymous]

I've been watching the show and I've also seen the various documentaries about it. I've landed on two things can be true - the adoptive mother is toxic and abusive (and the dad is a spineless twit) and Natalia Grace is a deeply disturbed young lady and probably did many of the things she's been accused of doing.

[Anonymous]

Not watching because these days every show like this is recycled content from a podcast and multiple docs, so by the time it's a show it's been rehashed to death. In this specific story it's clear everyone is troubled with psychological issues.

[Anonymous]

This is one of those stories that I followed only via an extensive dcum thread. It’s a weird story.

[Anonymous]

Watching and what strikes me is how completely inept Kristine's character is at parenting this child, no matter what the situation was with her placement. The dad inept as well.

NO YOU CANNOT USE THAT KNIFE!

Instead "I think she hates me" and then hugs when the child says she's sorry. Hopeless.

[Anonymous]

it's on my list but I have heard so much about this case I'm unsure if I even want to watch. I think the documentary is on a platform I don't have, but I listened to so many podcasts last year. idk, may be interesting to see a different side of the story.
She will always be Meredith to me so that part is throwing me off lol

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've been watching the show and I've also seen the various documentaries about it. I've landed on two things can be true - the adoptive mother is toxic and abusive (and the dad is a spineless twit) and Natalia Grace is a deeply disturbed young lady and probably did many of the things she's been accused of doing.

My nephew and his wife adopted a daughter from relatives of his wife's--actually I think in-laws of a cousin of hers. She had a lot of problems and was diagnosed with RAD. The girl was 4 when they adopted her and there were a lot of problems--including a stretch when she was about 9-10 where they had to lock up knives and were considering residential care for her. I tend to be skeptical of RAD as a diagnosis--I think it's over-used--but they were able to avoid residential care and at 14 she has no problems whatsoever.

The baby bottle "treatment" is nonsense, and an Oregon therapist lost her license for life over it (that was overruled but an example of it being out there). I'm skeptical of the version of Jacob's autism his mom claimed (won't ever read or talk, etc, and then he does Ted talks at 12).

The behaviors are not uncommon for kids adopted from Ukraine and Russia (not sure about other countries).

In the program they show a dental x-ray in the montage about getting her age changed, but apparently the x-rays were NOT used in court and showed her true age, not the age the Barnetts claimed.

Interesting tidbit from an NIH published study of transnational kids adopted by Danish families:

The risk of developing precocious puberty was significantly increased 10 to 20 times in adopted girls compared with girls with Danish background. The risk of developing precocious puberty depended on the country of origin. In children immigrating with their family, the risk of developing precocious puberty was only marginally increased. Older age at adoption significantly increased the risk of precocious puberty in adoptees independent of region of origin. The incidence rate ratio was significantly higher in children adopted after the age of 2. In children immigrating with their family, we found no effect of age at migration.

[Anonymous]

I've watched all the shows and follow-ups, etc. There is plenty of evidence to prove that Natalia Grace was in fact a child. I have supported her narrative from the beginning. However, as I was watching Good American Family I looked over at my 10 year old granddaughter who has no issues whatsoever and is exceptionally intelligent and independent (I mean nothing out of the ordinary for a 10 year old) and I just cannot fathom how a child of that age could spend an hour in this situation let alone years. I looked at her and my 9 year old who is already what most folks would call a genius (I'm not trying to brag...we have just been extremely blessed in this regard) and I just can't see either of them not freaking out. Or at the very least being so scared they have to ask for help or something. Now I don't know anymore. I just don't know what to think. If you've watched The Curious Case of Natalia Grace and/or Natalia Speaks (If you haven't do it now) then you know what a monster Kristine Barnett is and Michael is a f'ing freakshow or at least that's how they are portrayed and there is video from Kristine and Michael both that would suggest they are both cookoo for cocoa puffs, but I just can't get over how a little girl could go that long on her own. Keep in mind of course that this show has obviously cut the timeline down for expediency, but in the docs she apparently was much more of a pita to her neighbors and such. Even saying that though, I still don't get how a little girl could live (if you call it living) on her own for any length of time. I know... opinions are like aholes... everybody has one and this is mine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm watching and agree with other posters that it's entertaining. I keep seeing advertisements for a documentary (it might be on Netflix, but I can't remember for sure) that I plan to watch at some point. I think that one is more from Natalia's POV.

The Curious Case of Natalia Grace and Natalia Speaks and The Final Chapter. Originally they were on Discovery but I think they might be on Max, Amazon Prime Video and/or Hulu. If not I know there are a few other places to watch.