- Natalia Grace Mans spoke about being diagnosed with reactive attachment disorder.
- RAD is a rare condition in which children fail to form healthy relationships with their caregivers.
- Natalia said in “The Curious Case of Natalia Grace” that she felt her diagnosis was “understandable.”
In “The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: The Final Chapter,” Natalia Grace Mans speaks about being diagnosed with reactive detachment disorder.
Reactive attachment disorder (RAD) is a condition in which children do not form healthy relationships with their caregivers. Legal analyst Beth Karas said in episode six of “Natalia Speaks,” the second installment of the series, that Natalia was diagnosed with RAD in 2010, while she was living with her then-adoptive parents Michael and Kristine Barnett.
Since then, Natalia — who was first adopted from a Ukrainian orphanage to the United States in 2008 — has lived with multiple families. In 2010, she was adopted by the Barnetts, who came to believe she was an adult and petitioned in court to change her birth year from 2003 to 1989. The Barnetts moved Natalia into an independent apartment in 2012, and in 2013, she met Cynthia Mans and moved in with her family. Antwon and Cynthia Mans adopted Natalia in 2023, but later that year, she left their home to live with Nicole and Vince DePaul, who attempted to adopt her when she was a child, in upstate New York.
In “Natalia Speaks,” Natalia said that her diagnosis was “understandable.”
“I still don’t know the full length of reactive attachment disorder, but I know one thing for me is that I don’t like being left,” she said in episode four of “The Final Chapter.” “I constantly feel like people are just going to walk out of my life.”
RAD makes it very hard to connect with others
Investigation Discovery
In episode four of “The Final Chapter,” Nicole DePaul speaks to rehabilitation psychologist Melissa Misegadis about Grace’s former RAD diagnosis.
“Reactive attachment disorder is what happens when children don’t bond to their caregivers,” Misegadis said in the show. It’s recognized in the DSM-5, the standard classification of mental disorders in the US.
Symptoms include a failure to play with other kids, lack of eye contact, and unexplained fear.
While RAD can resemble a disorganized attachment style, attachment styles are more fluid and describe differences in how people connect in relationships. RAD qualifies as a disorder because of the severity of its symptoms, such as behavior problems.
Childhood abandonment is a huge risk factor
Misegadis wasn’t surprised that Grace has RAD. “Individuals with unaddressed trauma like Natalia has, these are behaviors that are coming from years of rejection and trauma,” she said in the show.
According to the Mayo Clinic, risk factors for developing RAD include losing a parent early in life (or having a severely neglectful parental figure), spending time in orphanages with no loving adult figures, and cycling through foster homes.
“I constantly feel like people are just going to walk out of my life,” Grace said in the show. “I personally can’t handle someone leaving me anymore. I can’t handle caring about somebody and then they walk away.”
Investigation Discovery
Rita Soronen, president and CEO of the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, previously told Business Insider that international adoptions like Grace’s often don’t provide much background. As a result, parents who adopt or foster kids can be shocked by RAD symptoms, rehoming their kids in the end.
RAD treatment usually requires therapy
Left untreated, RAD can lead to long-term consequences, like substance abuse disorder, depression, and difficulty forming relationships.
Treatment usually involves therapy, social skills classes, or parenting classes to help caretakers effectively manage their kids’ behaviors. Though Natalia declined mental health services during production, producer Shannon Evangelista told The Hollywood Reporter, she told People that started seeing a therapist after she had a panic attack in 2024.
So far, Natalia said she feels “free” living with the DePauls, who initially tried to adopt her in 2003. She says in episode four of “The Final Chapter” that she’s “not really talking” to the Mans.
“Did she probably do weird things in the past? Yeah,” Nicole DePaul told People. “[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.”
“The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: The Final Chapter” is now streaming on Max.
