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In a tearful video released on Tuesday, May 26, 2020, YouTuber Myka Stauffer and her husband James announced that their son Huxley, whom they adopted from China knowing he had special needs, has been “re-homed” to another family supposedly better suited for his care.
This announcement video has garnered over 2 million views in less than a week. Those numbers make sense, as Myka Stauffer is a popular YouTuber, known for her family-life videos. She has 717,000 subscribers on her channel and “The Stauffer Family” has 332,000 on the family channel.
The Stauffer’s adopted Huxley, 2.5 years old at the time, from China in October 2017. Throughout their adoption journey, Myka Stauffer updated her subscribers on her channel; she uploaded 27 videos about the adoption of Huxley before he was even taken home. Huxley had been a consistent presence on her channel and social media since his arrival video, which earned 5.5 million views. Stauffer had also acted as an advocate for international adoption on several national media platforms.
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At one point in the adoption process, Myka Stauffer said that she and her husband were not open to a special needs adoption; yet, God had softened their hearts, and soon enough, they were open to nearly “every special need in the book.”
However, in the past two years, the Stauffers realized that Huxley’s disclosed disabilities in the adoption process did not tell the whole story. After taking Huxley home, the family “knew something was terribly off”; the adoption agency in China had only diagnosed him with a brain cyst. James Stauffer said in the update video that “with international adoption, sometimes there are unknowns and things that are not transparent on files… once Huxley came home, there [were] a lot more special needs that we weren’t aware of, and that we were not told.”
Evaluations in the United States gave the Stauffers more information about Huxley. They later learned that he “was profoundly developmentally delayed.” Huxley had a stroke in utero, was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder level 3 and with a sensory processing disorder. The Stauffers put Huxley in various forms of therapy — with the most recent months being the most intense — before coming to their sad conclusion.
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Myka Stauffer spoke of this decision as the best one for Huxley’s emotional well-being. She was choking up while saying that “there’s not an ounce of our bod[ies] that doesn’t love Huxley with all of our beings.” The pair had analyzed evaluations and consulted with medical professionals before deciding “he needed a different fit [for] his medical needs. He needed more.”
She later said “do I feel like a failure as a mom? Like, 500 percent.”
His new home — hand-picked by the Stauffers — is described as “the perfect match” for Huxley and his needs. The mother of this family has medical professional training as well.
The Stauffers have not given any more details about Huxley’s behavior and the situation that led to this decision. Regardless, outrage has been sparked amongst social media users and special needs advocates alike.
Many subscribers claim that the Stauffers “exploited” Huxley and their journey with him for YouTube clout. This issue is only inflated by the fact that Myka Stauffer’s videos are indeed monetized, and she made content with Huxley for years. The Stauffers have also been at the center of debates about the rights and privacy of children on social media. Some viewers are calling for the Stauffers to take a hiatus from their public platform in the wake of this news.
The Stauffers have four biological kids, all under the age of 8.
