Lifestyle and parenting blogger Myka Stauffer has broken her silence following the controversial placement of her adopted son Huxley in a new home.
The YouTuber, who shares four biological children with husband James Stauffer, posted a lengthy statement on her Instagram on Wednesday, apologizing for the scandal. The Stauffers decided to give up Huxley, the four-year-old boy they adopted from China, after he was diagnosed with autism.
“This decision has caused so many people heartbreak, and I’m sorry for letting down so many women that looked up to me as a mother,” the 32-year-old wrote. “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.
“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,” she continued, adding that she was “naive” about the process of adoption.
“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.
“I wanted to help so bad I was willing to bring home any child that needed me,” Stauffer said. “For this, I was naive, foolish and arrogant.”
She also addressed accusations that she adopted Huxley to make more money through her YouTube channel.
“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,” she said. “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 confirmed that her family is not under any investigation by the authorities.
“We love Huxley and know that this was the right decision for him and his future,” she concluded. “Praying that Huxley only has the best future in the entire world.”
The Stauffers first announced they’d be giving up Huxley last month due to the child having “a lot of special needs that we weren’t aware of and that we were not told.”
They appeared in a tearful, since-deleted video posted on her YouTube page on Tuesday in which they announced that their “journey” with Huxley had come to an end.
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That journey started in 2016 and helped them build — and monetize — a channel with more than 700,000 followers, many of whom were outraged by the announcement.
“I didn’t adopt a little boy to share these things publicly,” Myka Stauffer said in the new video, which has been watched more than 687,000 times to date.
It’s also one of more than two dozen videos about Huxley on her channel.
The couple said Huxley has been moved to a new “forever family” and alluded to “issues” and “special needs” that led to their decision. They refused to go into detail on those issues, citing the boy’s privacy.
Stauffer says she stopped featuring Huxley in her videos while the process took place, and she only shared an update on his status after it had been resolved.
“Do I feel like a failure as a mom? Like, 500 per cent,” she said.
Stauffer has spent the last three-plus years building a profile as a mommy blogger and media personality, but her experiences with Huxley helped catapult her to her current fame.
— With files from Josh K. Elliott
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