Kriti Mehrotra
With HBO’s ‘An Update on Our Family’ exploring all aspects of not just the family vlogging industry but also the rise and fall of the Stauffers, we get a documentary series that is simply gripping. That’s because it incorporates both archival footage as well as exclusive interviews to really underscore the need for regulation within YouTube communities so as to protect those involved. After all, the aforementioned personalities had essentially built an empire sharing their journey of adopting a young boy from China, only to give him up around 2 years later, and it caused havoc.
Huxley Stauffer’s Early Childhood Was Quite Traumatic
It was in 2016 when Ohio-based happily married parents of three, Myka and James Stauffer, decided to expand their family through adoption, something the matriarch had long wanted to do. She had admittedly always hoped to have six or seven children, including multiple adoptions from places across Africa and Asia, in the hopes of really helping to change a young life for the better. She reportedly had to really convince her husband to get on the same page, but he did, driving the YouTube family vloggers to begin the process while also documenting it to share with their fans.
Not long after Myka and James made their decision public, they also revealed they had chosen to focus their search on special needs kids in China after talking to several adoption agencies. The couple was very well aware it would be challenging, yet they were confident since they believed that if there were 100 conditions a child could have, they were okay with at least 99 of them. That’s how they found the 2½-year-old they named Huxley Stauffer upon falling in love with him after just seeing a few photos. He had special needs owing to “brain damage” and no one to care for him.
Myka and James seemingly didn’t hesitate to file for adoption, following which they even began educating themselves by talking to physicians so as to prepare for his arrival into the big family. However, when they finally went to pick up Huxley in China, the whole situation was evidently traumatic for the child because he had developed an extremely close bond with his foster mom. All he did was cry, cling to the latter, and crave his safe space in a crib when the couple first met him, making it clear that while they had come to think of him as their son, they were essentially strangers to him.
Huxley Stauffer Was Diagnosed With Autism in the US
According to the aforementioned 3-part original, Myka and James shared almost every aspect of Huxley’s personal experiences and medical diagnosis on their now-deleted family channel too. From his allegedly frequent yet understandable tantrums in this new place to his many doctor’s appointments to the way the Stauffers tried to help him do better, they filmed it all every single day. Therefore, it soon became well-known across the community that he is on level 3 of the autism spectrum, with doctors asserting he has profound developmental disability and could need lifelong 24/7 care.
Myka and James subsequently claimed they were doing their best not only to work with Huxley to understand him better but also to provide him with the specialists/treatments he needed to grow. However, the Stauffers’ positive popularity until this time gradually saw a major shift as fans began noticing discrepancies between what the family was saying and what they were seemingly doing. After all, a few eagle-eyed fans said that they have seen Huxley wearing a thumb brace to stop sucking on it, the same being duct-taped in a quickly removed clip. Some also alleged it could be seen that his adoptive parents lost their patience a little over time.
Yet, arguably the most disturbing clips for viewers were when they went back to one of the adoption process videos and heard Myka state that their child “is not returnable” or when she later admitted she had changed his speech therapist to a much cheaper one. In the latter clip, she could be seen wearing an original 18-karat gold Cartier Love bracelet worth over $6,000 at the time while stating she could not spend $500 on Huxley’s speech therapist. So, instead, the fashion, lifestyle, as well as family influencer said she and her husband had decided to hire a new professional that cost $70 for 30 minutes.
Huxley Stauffer is Reportedly Happy in a New Home With New Parents Today
Despite the fact Huxley had been a significant part of The Stauffer Family YouTube channel from the moment he first became a part of the family in 2017, he suddenly disappeared around early 2020. This worried a lot of invested fans, especially as Myka and James soon started deleting all comments mentioning him, before also removing all their adoption videos revolving around him. The fact the patriarch was seen taking out Huxley’s car seat on his individual YouTube channel also sparked many different conversations about the young boy, leaving the couple no choice but to finally come forward with the truth.
In a video posted on May 26, 2020, Myka and James tearfully admitted they had decided to rehome Huxley a short while prior because they could not provide him with the care and treatment he needed. They added that they came to this conclusion after months and months of careful thinking and discussions with the young boy’s doctors, yet many viewers could not believe what they were hearing. Hence, with the belief the couple had exploited the young boy and his special needs to build an empire before carelessly discarding him, they began an uproar against them, which included involving the police.
In the end, authorities determined the Stauffers weren’t abusive towards any of their kids and had indeed dissolved their adoption in such a way that Huxley was already close to having a new forever home. As per their records, when they visited his new adoptive family for a follow-up welfare check, Huxley was sitting in the matriarch’s lap, calling her “momma,” and seemed extremely happy as well as taken care of. Thus, the investigation into the matter was closed for good, and since then, it appears as if Huxley’s new family (likely still in Ohio) has even renamed him so as to protect his privacy in every way that matters.
Read More: Hannah Cho: Where is the YouTuber Now?
You must be logged in to post a comment.