Who Is in Natalia Grace’s New Family? Docuseries Subject Feels ‘Free’ After Leaving Manses

The Curious Case of Natalia Grace gets curiouser and curiouser with the ID docuseries’ new season — subtitled The Final Chapter and streaming on Max — which tracks Grace’s falling-out with her adoptive parents, Antwon and Cynthia Mans. These days, however, Natalia Grace is living with another family, and she says she feels “free” in her new environment.

As Curious Case viewers know, Grace was adopted by Michael and Kristine Barnett in 2010. But the Barnetts accused Grace, a Ukraine native who has spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia congenita, of posing as a child and of trying to harm their family.

Then came the Manses, who started caring for Grace in 2013 and legally adopted her in 2023. But in the docuseries, witnesses allege Antwon and Cynthia Mans were abusive toward Grace, as People reports. (The Manses did not respond to the magazine’s request for comment, and Grace refused to confirm or deny the abuse allegations.) Now, however, Grace has a new home with another family.

Natalia Grace is living with the DePaul family now.

After a decade with the Manses, Grace reached out to her friend Nicole DePaul, as People reports.

Nicole, 49, and husband Vince DePaul, 51, tried to adopt Grace in 2009, but that adoption didn’t pan out, according to Inside Edition. (Nicole and Vince, who have a form of dwarfism similar to Grace’s, showed Inside Edition stacks of paperwork that listed Grace’s birth year as 2003.)

After months of plotting, the DePauls whisked Grace away from the Manses, according to People. Nicole and 19-year-old daughter Mackenzie drove from upstate New York and picked up Grace outside a church in Nashville, Tennessee.

“I saw the [DePauls] pull up and Mack jumped out, and I’m like, ‘Oh, my gosh, she’s actually here,’” Grace told the magazine. “My heart started pounding. I was terrified. I was completely terrified.”

Grace’s time with the DePauls was “bumpy” at first.

Nicole told People that Grace’s time in the household was “bumpy” at first, adding that the Manses were calling Grace agin and again to try to “wheel her back in.”

Plus, the DePauls were “walking a fine line of not doing too much” after Grace’s time with the Manses, Nicole said. “See, she just came from this house that basically was ruled by a dictator, so I didn’t want to tell her what to do,” she explained.

Then there was the time Grace secretly recorded the DePauls in their house, but Nicole explained to People that Grace has been diagnosed with reactive attachment disorder, or RAD.

“Did she probably do weird things in the past? Yeah,” Nicole admitted. “[But] when you take in a child, you take that child as your own. You don’t just get rid of them when they don’t fit into your puzzle.”

Grace feels “free” in her life with the DePauls.

These days, Grace is enjoying her relationship with a boyfriend she met on Facebook, studying for her GED with hopes of becoming a teacher, learning to drive, listening to Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus, undergoing therapy, and preparing for upcoming surgeries, People reports.

“It’s a blessing to be alive today because looking back at my 7-year-old self, I should have been dead,” Grace told the magazine. “Learning everything that I have about how to live with my dwarfism — it’s been a great experience. I love it. I mean, of course, I still miss my siblings and everything. But I love it. I feel free.”

If you or someone you know is the victim of child abuse, contact the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child (1-800-422-4453). If you or a loved one are in immediate danger, call 911.

The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: The Final Chapter, Now Streaming, Max