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Is anyone watching this series? I found it on Discovery ID. I don’t know anything about the case other than I’m up to episode 3 and can’t believe how messed up this situation is.

I’m planning to finish it tonight.

Well, no…not yet.

But I will certainly look for it after your post!

A family adopted a girl from Ukrain, she is a dwarf, they are speculating she was already an adult with an altered birth certificate. Between her and the family it her childhood was a mess.

Very ODD story. I believe she was an adult, not a child.

Apparently, another show is coming this summer with her side of the story. Saw a clip where she says something like she's only going to say it once.

Very ODD story. I believe she was an adult, not a child.

I agree

Apparently, another show is coming this summer with her side of the story. Saw a clip where she says something like she's only going to say it once.

I will have my popcorn ready.

OMG !!!

I watched the whole thing yesterday. Oh dear. What a mess!!!

I’m not sure I agree with Tanner and Jeanie…that she was an adult. How do you explain that in her younger pictures, she had baby teeth, and in later pictures she had adult teeth? And what her PCP said about her X-rays, showing the "age" of her bones?

But it’s so strange… Even after you just finish watching the whole thing, you wonder what in the world is going on. You can almost understand each point of view presented by each different person. Almost everything is a possibility.

I do THINK I know a few things…

1. The adoptive "mother" is certifiable. And she DEFINITELY abused Natalia.

2. The adoptive "father" is a media hound, and a shell of a wimpy man who cannot stand up for anyone. And also a whack job… When he was on the floor and started beating the rug so dramatically in one of his interviews, I was totally convince he was certifiable also.

3. I do know that some individuals from orphanages in the Eastern block have extraordinary "issues". Learned that the hard way.

4. If I’m going to believe anyone, it would be the oldest, autistic son. He was a REAL person. The abuse wasn’t limited to Natalia, for sure.

I had a hard time with the different neighbors when Natalia was living in the apartment. Some were absolutely adamant that she was a young child and that her parents had neglected/abandoned her. Others, felt that she was much older, but didn’t want to have a close relationship with her due to being afraid of her peculiar past and present behaviors.

I could NOT believe the results of the dad’s trial. (I’ll try not to spoil it for those who might plan to see it.)

I am pretty gullible, so it wouldn’t surprise me if I was wrong about any of the above observations.
My husband is one of those people that can always predict accurately "who done it" early on in a movie. I’m going to ask him to watch it, and get his impressions.

People, please keep posting about this. I am SO interested in your impressions. I simply cannot stop thinking about it.

And another thing… Why did she not speak with a Ukrainian accent?

Just saying’.

Also, what’s up with the guy bragging on his sexual prowess? I mean, Eww, but also, Why?

Sorry. I just can’t get that show out of my mind.

If you look at some of the 2022 video of her speaking she looks 30. I finished the whole thing and still not sure what I just saw. I'm tempted to start over but my W says, no thanks.

Sorry. I just can’t get that show out of my mind.

I know I usually don't discuss movies and shows here (ok Survivor), but I just had to know what my SI family thought about this.

So has no one watched the orphan yet....I read this in the news yesterday and was instantly ITS THE ORPHAN RUNNNNNNN.

very good film, whether it gained inspiration from this or not I'm not sure but in the film she was a little Russian angry adult murdering child thing

Embarrassing to admit this, but I re-watched the entire thing. I have also watched Dr. Phils interview with her. I’ve also watched other ridiculous TV shows giving little snippets here and there about the whole situation.

I’ve seen the pictures of her when she first came and she had baby teeth obviously because she had lost one. Then I’ve seen the pictures of her teeth After she had been there for a bit.

And I listen to the doctor say that her growth plates still had spaces between them.

So what I am going to say is that I believe she was older than six when she came over, but certainly nowhere near 22. I am going to just take a wild guess it may be 8 to 10 years old or something like that.

I even had my husband watch it because he can usually know the end of a movie before it happens. Like a who done it or some thing. And he sort of agreed with me.

And the biggest thing that we both agreed on is that the man is a lunatic. And Lord knows I could be very wrong. But every time he is on camera I get the feeling that he thinks he is trying out for an acting part.

Anyway, anybody else figured anything out about it?

[This message edited by WhatsRight at 2:02 AM, Saturday, June 10th]

Is this on the regular Discovery or one you have to subscribe to? I want to watch it.

You can stream it on HBO Max if you have it.

I'm going to agree with those that say she was in fact a child. Yeah, some photos were taken at weird angles that made her look older but she had a baby face (and several years later did not), she had baby teeth and per her doctor, her bone plates were not fully developed. The current interviews with her show someone who clearly grew and now looks like an adult.

Why no accent? Hard to say. Something hinky with that but I don't think that's proof she was an adult.

Also, the documentation from her bio mother.

The adoptive Dad is a straight up ... something. Narc? He never, ever stops talking about himself and his victim status. He shows no empathy for what that girl went through, no remorse or self-reflection. And yeah, he's a performer. Came off slightly sociopathic to me in that he was trying to portray what a normal person would feel or think versus showing authentic feelings. I could not stand him.

The adoptive mother was an abuser full stop. I think the video where Natalia is reading the bible was a set up by the mother. Natalia looks terrified of her and says what she has been told to say.

When the neighbor was saying how Natalia smelled and didn't bathe and basically went door to door looking for food and companionship it cemented it more for me that she was too young (whatever age she might actually have been) to be on her own. It broke my heart to think of a child alone in the world just looking for anyone to pay her some attention.

I haven't watched it yet, but the show sounds intriguing.

As for the accent, that could be due to a few things. If she wasn't exposed much to the language or speak it much, then she wouldn't have to re-learn pronunciation. If she learned to speak English by watching TV or learned from a translator without an accent, then she'd speak without an accent. I was speaking with somebody who went overseas to teach students to speak English, and I asked about accents and why some people have heavy accents and others don't. They told me about the accent coming from the instructor.

Oh, well that makes sense… That if she was taught English by someone with no Ukrainian accent, then she would not have that accent when she came to the US.

Well, that answers one question that I have had.

One thing I really believe is that her adoptive parents now, they seem to be oblivious to any type of inconsistencies in the story. They seem to support her 1000% and do not consider it a possibility that anything is "off".

I suppose that’s a good enough thing for her. That if she is not guilty of all of these things that she has been accused of, which I really don’t think she is, that she has people in her court that love her, and have faith in her.

@WhatsRight

Now I just watched another series, Shiny Happy People. Its on Amazon and it's about the Duggers and their strict religious standards.

I want to stay within guidelines so I don't want to cause a religious debate. I'm not commenting about the religion, just the abuse that was allowed and rug swept in the name of religion.

[This message edited by Tanner at 8:51 PM, Wednesday, June 14th]

I watched that one Tanner. I'm so glad they are shinning a light on some of the awful things that go on in that ministry. The Bates are another mega family who are also involved with IBLP.

The Bates are another mega family who are also involved with IBLP.

I did not watch the Bates show but I remember them on the Dugger's show. We home schooled our grown kids through elementary school. We went to a home school convention every year and the Duggers were there peddling the ATI curriculum, wasn't impressed. The kids worked the booth selling it. We met Jim Bob and Michelle a couple of times and always felt a little off, but that was before I knew to trust my gut. Their kids were very polite and respectful.