A YouTube influencer is facing severe backlash after “re-homing” her adopted four-year-old autistic son just years after she took him into her family. Myka Stauffer, 32, and her husband James said that they decided to re-home Huxley, who they adopted from China three years ago, due to "a lot more special needs that we were not aware of."
The couple announced the news to over 378,700 of Myka's subscribers in a video posted to her channel Wednesday.
"There's not an ounce of our body that doesn't love Huxley with all of our being," Myka, who has four biological children, said.
She previously revealed that Huxley has autism and brain trauma, according to Daily Mail, but did not elaborate further on her decision to give him up due to medical privacy concerns.
She stated that, "after multiple assessments, after multiple evaluations, numerous medical professionals have felt that he needed a different fit" and "needed more" due to his medical needs.
Myka was widely criticized and slammed on social media for her decision.
"Autistic children aren’t puppies. They don’t have 'forever families.' They don’t get 'rehomed.' They get abandoned," one Twitter user wrote.
"These white YouTubers Myka & James Stauffer adopted an Asian child & made $$$ from sharing their story all over social media. After over TWO YEARS they decided to REHOME their child because him having autism was just 'too hard'. This is literally SICK. Children are not pets," another wrote
"Myka stauffer really just gave her kid away bc adoption wasn’t a dreamy aesthetic journey like she thought it’d be ... these ig moms are another level of gross. that poor sweet little boy," a third tweeted.
Myka said she felt like a "failure as a mom" but added that Huxley is "thriving" in his new "forever home" with his "new mommy who has medical, professional training."
Ending the video, Myka said she was hurting from the decision to find a new home for Huxley.
"The reason I started my channel is to be positive and to bring people positivity, even though we're struggling and, when we talk about Hux, it's a huge wound for us," she said. "Just because I may be positive on my stories or be having fun, doing something fun, it doesn’t mean that I'm not, like, still horribly hurting, and the same for Jim."
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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