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A mum charged with abandoning her adopted 10-year-old daughter claims the girl was a 22-year-old sociopath who tried to kill her family.

Kristine Barnett, 45, and Michael Barnett, 43, allegedly dumped their Ukrainian-born daughter Natalia Grace, who has dwarfism, in a flat in the US and moved to Canada.

A doctor who examined Natalia in 2010 - the year she was adopted - determined that she was eight-years-old, but in 2012 the Barnetts - now divorced - legally changed her age to 22.

After being charged with neglect, Kristine has bizarrely claimed Natalia was an impostor pretending to be a child and tried to kill her in a plot mirroring the horror film The Orphan.

(Image: Kristine Barnett)

Kristine claims 3-ft tall Natalia threatened to stab her and her then-husband in their sleep, pushed her towards an electric fence and poured bleach in her coffee.

Kristine told DailyMailTV: "She would make statements and draw pictures saying she wanted to kill family members, roll them up in a blanket and put them in the backyard.

“She was standing over people in the middle of the night. You couldn't go to sleep. We had to hide all the sharp objects.

(Image: Tippecanoe County Jail)

"I saw her putting chemicals, bleach, Windex something like that, in my coffee and I asked her, 'what are you doing?' She said, 'I am trying to poison you'."

In an interview with WISH-TV, Kristine claimed Natalia was diagnosed as both a psychopath and sociopath.

Kristine denied accusations that she neglected Natalia, and claims that Natalia is an adult and was not a child when she was adopted.

She claims Natalia - initially said to be as young as six when she was adopted - had already started her period and was trying to cover it up, had adult teeth and full pubic hair.

(Image: Tippecanoe County Jail)

She also claims doctors examined Natalia and concluded she was suffering a severe psychological illness only diagnosed in adults.

Kristine alleges the illness led to Natalia jumping from moving cars and smearing blood over mirrors.

She claims the couple had Natalia's age "corrected" after a physician told them Natalia's 2003 birth date was wrong and the daughter had made a career out of pretending to be a young child.

Natalia suffers from a rare form of dwarfism that means she is 3ft tall and has problems walking.

(Image: CBS NEWS)

Because of her condition it has been difficult for doctors to determine her age.

When she was adopted it was claimed she was six.

In 2010 a doctor said she was about eight, and an evaluation in 2012 showed that she was a minor aged about 10 or 11, according to a police affidavit.

The Barnetts had Natalia's age changed to 22 and later rented an apartment in Lafayette, Indiana, in 2013 and left her there alone, according to police.

(Image: Facebook)

The foster parents moved to Canada with their two sons, where one of them was attending a prestigious physics school west of Toronto.

Police have now charged the Barnetts with neglect, claiming Natalia was abandoned.

According to the affidavit, Michael admitted to police that he and Kristine had Natalia's age changed to 22 even though doctors had determined she was a minor.

The document states: "Michael Barnett admitted Kristine Barnett told Natalia to tell others Natalia looked young but was actually 22."

(Image: CTV NEWS)

One of the couple's friends back in Indiana told TV station News 18 that the Barnetts were "scammed" into adopting the girl.

The friend, who wasn't named, said: "She just found out two weeks ago through the media that she's in trouble.

"She said there were two trials years ago to re-age the girl.

"It wasn't like its something the state doesn't know happened. She's very confused as to why all of this were to come up."

The friend claims the girl had severe mental health issues when the Barnetts adopted her and had physically attacked the family, who believed she was older than they were told.

The friend also claims Natalia was meant to be living on her own under the care of doctors.

Court documents show she was evicted from the flat in 2014.

Her current whereabouts are unknown and neither she nor an attorney has responded to Kristine's claims.

Margaret Axson, who lived on the same street, told News 18 that she was friends with Natalia and they had attended an adult learning centre together until one day Natalia stopped coming to class.

It also emerged Natalia had briefly attended a high school for adults and older youth.

The Barnetts were featured in a 60 Minutes report in 2012 that highlighted their son Jacob, a physics prodigy with an IQ higher than Albert Einstein.