Myka Stauffer, a YouTuber that documents her family life, has broken her silence on the controversy surrounding her last video - which has since been removed - when her and husband James announced they had given away their 4-year-old adopted son due to his special needs
Posting a screenshot from the notes app on Instagram, Stauffer apologised to her fans and the community of parents who look after special needs children for hurting them. ‘I want to first off apologise for the uproar and take full responsibility for all of the hurt that I have caused,’ Stauffer wrote. ‘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 Stauffer’s came under fire last month when they explained they were not able to give Huxley, whom they adopted from China, the medical attention he needs saying he had been placed in a ‘new forever home’ with a woman than has ‘medical professional training’.
‘With international adoption sometimes there are things that are unknowns and things that aren’t transparent on files,’ James Stauffer said in the YouTube video. ‘Once Huxley came home there was a lot more special needs that we weren’t aware of and weren’t told.’
The couple were accused of profiting off her adopted child’s journey, with their YouTube channel affording them sponsorship deals from Glossier and Good American, only to give him up later on. Inconsistencies in the Stauffer’s story were shared online, with people pointing to an article Myka wrote in 2019 explaining they were informed Huxley had ‘brain damage’ but adopted in him when ‘God softened our hearts’.
There were also unverified screenshots shared of Myka asking people on Facebook in a group called ‘China Adoption Questions’ about what special needs were considered ‘minor or relatively easy to manage that most people wouldn’t consider easy’. Myka has since deleted all videos about the journey adopting Huxley, which were previously among her most popular videos.
Myka has now admitted that she should have done more research before adopting a child internationally and said she only received one day of at-home video training to be eligible to adopt Huxley.
‘I apologise for being so naive when I started the adoption process, I was not selective or fully equipped or prepared,’ she said. ‘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 wanted to help so bad I was willing to bring home any child that needed me. For this I was naive, foolish, and arrogant. I wish so bad I would have been more prepared and done more.’
Going on to ‘debunk rumours’, she said that all of the money gained from videos of Huxley went into financing his medical needs.
‘Lastly to debunk a couple complete rumours, we did not adopt a child to gain wealth,’ Myka stated. ‘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. Secondly, we are not under any type of investigation. I’m hoping to share more from my side of the story soon.’
Her response has not been well-received online, with social media users labelling her apology ‘trash’ although comments on the original post have been limited – only showing friends supporting the couple.
Read More:
Things You Only Know If You've Experienced Post-Adoption Grief
We Should All Be Willing To Consider Adoption - Whether We're Suffering From Infertility Or Not