In early 2020, Myka and James Stauffer were on top of the influencer world. They had a very successful family blog where they shared their parenting ups and downs surrounded by their five beautiful children – Kova, Jaka, Radley, Onyx and Huxley.
Myka was considered one of the OG mummy bloggers and people looked up to the picture-perfect family, lapping in their content and videos.
However, in 2020, the couple’s son, Huxley, stopped appearing in any videos or posts. It was then revealed that Myka and James, who adopted Huxley from China three years prior, had ‘rehomed’ him.
The decision not only caused intense backlash but also ended their career.
The Stauffer’s Return
Now, four years later, the Stauffers are back front and centre in a three-part docuseries. An Update on Our Family takes its name from the title the Stauffers used on their infamous YouTube video in which they revealed Huxley’s fate.
While the docuseries will address the ups and downs of the vlogging industry in general, there is a focus on what happened with Huxley.
Huxley’s adoption
In 2016, Myka and James and their three children (Onyx wasn’t born yet) were regulars on YouTube. The couple announced they would welcome another baby to the family very soon thanks to international adoption.
Huxley was two years old when he was adopted from China and the couple shared his adoption journey regularly. The little boy settled into the family lifestyle and was regularly seen in the family vlogs.
What happened to Huxley?
In 2019, Myka confessed that life with Huxley wasn’t what she was expecting. Myka wrote a piece for Parade magazine sharing that there had been some inaccuracies about Huxley’s needs, which they only discovered after bringing Huxley to the US.
“When we came home, we experienced a big surprise with inaccurate file information,” she wrote. “Our son ended up having a stroke in utero, has level 3 autism, and sensory processing disorder. It took a lot of time to process and to readjust to his new diagnosis. We spent 10 months preparing for brain tumours and never once did I read about autism or stroke damage — it was a curve ball.”
“International adoption, sometimes there’s unknowns and things that are not transparent on file,” James added. “And once Huxley came home there was a lot more special needs that we weren’t aware of and that we were not told.”
“New forever family”
In February 2020, Myka shared more insight into their lives.
“The last couple days have been hard. I don’t want to sugarcoat anything. We have had a lot of meltdowns, and lots of behaviours that have had us on our knees begging God for guidance!
I wish autism and adoption trauma had a manual to direct you through it all.”
In March 2020, Myka posted her final photo of Huxley and shortly after, fans started to ask questions about where he was.
In May 2020, Myka revealed that Huxley had found a “new forever family” with the help of the adoption agency. He was no longer part of the Stauffer family.
“They found somebody that they felt would be ultimately the best fit and he is thriving, he is very happy, he is doing very well and his new mommy has medical professional training and it is a very good fit,” Myka said.
“For us, it’s been really hard hearing from the medical professionals, a lot of their feedback, and things that have been upsetting. We’ve never wanted to be in this position. And we’ve been trying to get his needs met and help him out as much as possible, we truly love him.”
The backlash
The backlash occurred immediately with users accusing the Stauffers of using Huxley for likes, clicks and praise.
In June 2020, Myka apologised for all the hurt she had caused.
“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. 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. 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. 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.
We love Huxley and know that this was the right decision for him and his future.”
Where are the Stauffer’s now?
Following the controversy, the family deleted their YouTube channel and her last post on Instagram is from 2020. James still has a channel known as Stauffer Garage but the channel does not feature any of the Stauffer children.
The family were effectively cancelled, which is one of the main topics of conversation in the new docuseries.
Where is Huxley now?
Meanwhile, Huxley’s new mother is an accessible education teacher and changed his name to Yue Lin after his adoption in 2020. She continues to share photos of him on Instagram, where he’s seen surrounded by his adoptive and foster siblings.
