The YouTubers who gave up their adopted son: Myka and James Stauffer ‘rehomed’ autistic child, 4, from China before vanishing from the spotlight amid almighty backlash

In 2020, popular family vloggers Myka and James Stauffer made a shocking announcement that would capture headlines across the world and eventually end their successful careers as influencers.

They had decided to ‘rehome’ their four-year-old autistic son, Huxley, nearly three years after they adopted him from China – due to difficulties in meeting his special needs.

The youngster – who has since been renamed – had been the star of many of their parenting and lifestyle videos on YouTube and Instagram before suddenly disappearing from their posts. 

Their one million followers quickly started to question the child’s absence – and after months of fans wondering what happened to Huxley, Myka and James shared a family ‘update’ on their YouTube channel.

They revealed how their adopted son has a new ‘forever family’ that is better equipped to take on his special needs.

The surprising confession prompted swift and widespread backlash, with many critics accusing the parents-of-five, based in Columbus, Ohio, of adopting the child as a stunt to secure more viewers.

However, defending their decision in the final Instagram post she would make before fleeing the spotlight, Myka insisted ‘we did not adopt a child to gain wealth’ but called herself ‘naïve’ and not ‘fully equipped’ to deal with the challenge. 

The uproar has now been revisited in a HBO docuseries An Update on Our Family, which explores the couple’s fall from grace and includes clips from Myka’s now-deleted YouTube videos, as well as diving into the family vlogging industry.

Between 2016 and 2020, Myka and James had extensively chronicled the journey of welcoming Huxley into their home – including choosing him, raising money and the day he arrived.

In a YouTube video posted before the adoption, she told viewers ‘my child is not returnable’ and that they ‘would love’ the youngster, ‘no matter what state’ he came to them in – making what happened later even more shocking. 

While the Stauffers were already popular online, their decision to adopt brought them a new era of success, and their adoption video of Huxley was watched by more than five million people. 

Moments such as his first Christmas with the family, bonding with his new siblings, and family days out were all shared online. 

But soon their adopted son started vanishing from their social media pages – and their followers quickly started asking why, prompting Myka and James to confess in May 2020 that they were ‘rehoming’ Huxley in their tearful update video.

‘With international adoption, sometimes there are unknowns and things that are not transparent on files,’ James said. ‘Once Huxley came home, there was a lot more special needs that we weren’t aware of, and that we were not told.’ 

Myka added that an adoption agency had helped place Huxley with his ‘forever family’; authorities later confirmed that the child is ‘happy’ in his new home and already calls his new mother ‘momma’.

‘He’s thriving, he’s doing really well, and his new mommy has medical, professional training,’ said Myka, who shares four other children ((daughters Kova and Jaka, and sons Radley and Onyx) with James.

Myka stressed that they love Huxley; they just realised they weren’t able to give him what he needs.

‘There’s not an ounce of our body that doesn’t love Huxley with all of our being,’ she said as her eyes welled up with tears.

‘There wasn’t a minute that I didn’t try our hardest and I think what [James] is trying to say is that after multiple assessments, after multiple evaluations, numerous medical professionals have felt that he needed a different fit [for] his medical needs. He needed more.’

The influencer said ‘the last couple months have been the hardest thing [she] could have ever imagined.’

‘Do I feel like a failure as a mom? Like, 500 per cent,’ she admitted before the couple ended their emotional video with a plea for fans to have ‘grace’ with them during this difficult time. 

‘We are still struggling,’ she said. ‘We are going to be heartbroken for a very long time.’

But the backlash was swift, with many critics accusing the couple of adopting Huxley as a stunt to gain viewers.

‘She adopted a child for views and then got rid of him and treated him like a brand deal,’ one person wrote, another added: ‘You adopted him solely for the attention it would give you and now you’re giving him away. Unbelievable.

‘I never watched that Myka Stauffer youtube mom, but I am RAGING over the fact that they rehomed their adopted special needs son,’ someone else chimed in.

Myka and James’ bombshell admission cost her a partnership with Kate Hudson’s sportswear company Fabletics as well as partnerships with Playtex Baby, Barbie, and Suave.

In June 2020, Myka finally addressed the ‘uproar’, writing in her final Instagram post: ‘This decision has caused so many people heart break and I’m sorry for letting down so many women that looked up to me as a mother.’ 

The parent – who had over 715,000 YouTube subscribers before the scandal saw her following drop by thousands – started off by saying she took ‘full responsibility’ for ‘all of the hurt’ her actions had caused.

‘I’m sorry for the confusion, and pain I have caused, and I am sorry for not being able to tell more of my story from the beginning,’ she wrote.

‘I could have never anticipated the incidents which occurred on a private level to ever have happened, and I was trying my best to navigate the hardest thing I have ever been through.’

The Ohio-based vlogger admitted she was in over her head when she adopted Huxley, calling herself ‘naïve’ about adopting and not ‘fully equipped’ to deal with the challenge.

She said: ‘I apologize for being so naïve when I started the adoption process, I was not selective or fully equipped or prepared. 

‘I received one day of watching at home online video training and gained my Hague adoption certification which was required by my accredited adoption agency. For me, I needed more training.

‘I can’t say I wish this never happened because I’m still so glad Huxley is here and getting all of the help he needs,’ Myka continued. 

‘I also know that even though he is happier in his new home and doing better that he still experienced trauma and I’m sorry, no adoptee deserves any more trauma.’

Myka said her desire to help a child made her act rashly, admitting: ‘I wanted to help so bad I was willing to bring home any child that needed me. For this, I was naïve, foolish, and arrogant.

‘I wish so bad I would have been more prepared and done more. I wish the decision to disrupt never had to be made. 

‘Adoption and all special needs are amazing and I have a ton of respect for every adoptee, adoption parent, and special needs parent. I look up to you in a million ways. And I’m sorry for hurting the community in any way.’

Myka also ‘debunked’ rumours she adopted Huxley ‘to gain wealth,’ explaining: ‘While we did receive a small portion of money from videos featuring Huxley and his journey, every penny and much more went back into his care. 

‘Getting Huxley the care and services he needed was very expensive and we made sure he got every service, and resource we could possibly find.’ 

She also told followers that she and her husband ‘are not under any type of investigation.’ 

The Delaware County Sheriff’s Office were reportedly looking into Huxley’s whereabouts the month prior after receiving ‘several inquiries.’ They later said the boy was ‘not missing’ and the ‘proper adoption process’ was taking place.

Myka went on: ‘I’m hoping to share more from my side of the story soon. And lastly I’m so sorry for letting you down. I also want to mention that moms need a safe place to ask for help when they are struggling. No questions asked.’ 

She finished by calling rehoming Huxley ‘the right decision’. She did not elaborate on where Huxley had gone, nor did she explain the process by which the child was matched with, and handed over to his new family.

‘We love Huxley and know that this was the right decision for him and his future. Praying that Huxley only has the best future in the entire world,’ said the mother.

Myka had previously stated that the child has autism and a brain trauma, and required a lot of specialised care. 

One of Myka’s last photos featuring her adopted son was posted on February 16 2020, and in the caption, she opened up about how difficult it was to care for his special needs. 

‘We have hard days, lots of them. I wish autism and adoption trauma had a manual to direct you through it all,’ she wrote. 

In a since-deleted comment posted on social media, Myka went on to claim that ‘multiple scary things happened inside the home towards our other children’, suggesting that this was one of the key reasons behind their decision to give up Huxley. 

‘We would never just give up a child with special needs, this is a personal matter to Hux it had nothing to do with he just had Autism,’ she wrote. 

‘Multiple scary things happened inside the home towards our other children, and if these events happened with one of my biological kids, after all the help and after the behaviors we witnessed sadly we would have no other choice then to seek help and get their needs met.’ 

The mother went on to insist that rehoming Huxley was what was best for him and something he wanted.

‘Huxley wanted this descion [sic] 100% we saw that in family time with other poeple [sic], he constantly chose them and signed with and showed tons of emotion to show us and let us know he wanted this,’ she explained. ‘Huxley never had a say in his adoption, and he needed more help and also wanted this and we know that 100%.’

The couple’s lawyers, Thomas Taneff and Taylor Sayers, told People that Myka and James ‘are very caring parents that would do anything for their children,’ but ‘this was the best decision for Huxley.’

They explained that the couple had consulted multiple healthcare and education professionals since his adoption and were advised ‘it might be best for Huxley to be placed with another family.’

‘This is devastating news for any parent. Our clients came to the difficult determination to follow the advice of the medical professionals,’ they said. 

‘To be clear this did NOT include any considerations for placement in the foster system, but rather to hand-select a family who is equipped to handle Huxley’s needs.

‘They were forced to make a difficult decision, but it is in fact, the right and loving thing to do for this child.

‘We have advised our clients not to say anything further at this time, but it is likely they will share more when the time is appropriate for them and all involved,’ the attorneys’ added.

Following the intense backlash, the Stauffers largely abandoned the limelight, with all of their YouTube videos across both channels deleted.

Myka’s Instagram account is still available for fans to view but the last post is the apology she shared in 2020.

Her husband James’ ‘Stauffer Garage’ YouTube channel remains active but with no family content. The channel is focused on car flipping, detailing, and cleaning.

Aside from this, the Stauffer couple, who have four biological children, have completely disappeared from the internet – Myka first set up her YouTube channel in 2014.

Their story is now being revisited in new docuseries, An Update On Our Family, which aired last week, and gained its name from the well-known video that was posted by the Stauffer’s to announce they had rehomed Huxley.

In the trailer, other vloggers discuss what happened, including the events leading up to the child’s disapparance from their YouTube channel and how much money family YouTubers can make by posting about their kids online

Its description reads: ‘Myka and James Stauffer were the picture of the 21st century American Dream: happy marriage, beautiful kids, and a self-built YouTube vlogging empire.

‘At the center of it all was Huxley, an adorable young boy they adopted from China. Huxley was more than just their star — he was their son. Until one day, he wasn’t.

‘A provocative three-part series, An Update On Our Family exposes the hidden-in-plain-sight, unregulated family vlogging industry.’