For years, Myka Stauffer was like any other family vlogger. Her videos began to gain traction as she documented the trials and tribulations of adopting a child, despite having several of her own. When Myka's adopted son, Huxley, mysteriously disappeared from her YouTube videos, fans grew concerned for his safety. In the end, the Stauffers nearly lost everything...
Myka Stauffer
Myka Stauffer turned her life as a mother into a highly profitable vlogging business over the course of several years. Her videos largely consisted of daily routines, as well as life with her kids and husband. Myka became an overnight sensation because of her video series where she documented adopting an autistic baby from China named Huxley.
Baby Huxley
It soon became apparent that the videos where Huxley made an appearance performed better than others. Despite this, as time went on, Huxley began to fade into the background—before disappearing altogether. Concerned fans begged Myka for an explanation, but they were met with radio silence. Then, the disturbing truth finally came to light...
Meet the Family
Before they adopted Huxley, Myka and her husband already had three children of their own. As Myka's channel grew, she realized that she got the most views when she vlogged her children. Myka began the adoption process, documenting it every step of the way. She watched her channel grow exponentially...
Pregnant Again
Myka became pregnant with their youngest child, Onyx, in early 2019. Fans began to notice that Huxley was featured in Myka's videos much less often than usual. They knew something fishy was going on, and when they found out what had really happened, people were outraged...
Crowdfunding a Child
International child adoption can be extremely costly. Myka Stauffer claimed that she and her husband James were not making nearly enough money to bring Huxley over on their own, so she asked her followers for help. Myka's fans happily donated to the cause. However, after Onyx's birth, it seemed like Huxley was slowly beginning to disappear from the channel...
Ugliness Behind the Scenes
By the beginning of 2020, Myka's channel only showcased her biological children and all but ignored Huxley's existence. Myka continued to post videos and photos as if things were normal. Unfortunately, behind the scenes, Huxley's mother had done something unspeakable...
Where Did Huxley Go?
It wasn't long before Huxley stopped showing up on Myka's feed at all. He wasn't featured in their YouTube videos, either. It was almost as if they were hoping that their fanbase would forget that the child had ever been a part of their family...
Facing the Music
Fans began to theorize that Huxley had gone missing, or that something terrible had happened to him. The public began pressuring Myka to make a statement about Huxley, but their pleas fell on deaf ears. Myka and James continued to act like everything was normal. It only made viewers more suspicious...
Internet Sleuths
In May of 2020, the owner of a Stauffer family fan page reached out to Buzzfeed News. They claimed that Myka used to interact with the account on a frequent basis. Then, when the account reached out to Myka about Huxley's disappearance, Myka instantly blocked and reported the account for harassment.
Wrong Move
Buzzfeed released a story about Huxley's disappearance, driving more traffic to Myka's channel than ever before. The Stauffers had their backs against the wall. They began to lose followers by the thousands. Just two days after the Buzzfeed article was published, the Stauffers released a video finally addressing the disappearance of Huxley...
The Day of Reckoning
On May 26, 2020, Myka and James Stauffer posted a video to their YouTube account titled "An Update on Our Family." Finally, they were about to reveal what had happened to their adopted son. In the video, the couple claimed that they could "no longer accommodate Huxley's needs."
Where Do the Lies Begin?
The Stauffers admitted that they had "rehomed" Huxley with a different family. "Once Huxley came home, there were a lot more special needs that we weren’t aware of and that we were not told," the couple 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."
The Snowball Effect
Myka put every video featuring Huxley on private, which meant they were only accessible to those with a link. However, she chose not to demonetize them, and she kept all sponsored Instagram posts featuring Huxley on her page. As fans took notice of Myka's hypocritical ways, they started to turn against her…
Get the Lawyers
When Myka posted the video about rehoming Huxley, they were both advised by their attorneys to remain silent when news organizations reached out to them. However, some information has been collected in the interim. The Stauffers did not personally respond to any inquiry from any organization, but their lawyers released the following statement...
Decisions Have Repercussions
"We are privy to this case, and given the facts at hand, we feel this was the best decision for Huxley," it read. "Since his adoption, [the Stauffers] consulted with multiple professionals in healthcare and educational arenas in order to provide Huxley with the best possible treatment and care. Over time, the team of medical professionals advised our clients it might be best for Huxley to be placed with another family..."
Change Must Come
According to the Stauffers' attorneys, they handpicked another family to take Huxley off of their hands. Strangely, nobody knows anything about the family that adopted Huxley. The family has chosen to stay anonymous, likely due to legal intervention from the Stauffers' side...
Kicking Them While They're Down
Naturally, the family was met with widespread criticism when they refused to release any information about Huxley's new family. In response, they tried to flood their feed with unrelated content, pretending that they were living normal lives without Huxley. This only worked against them in the long run...
It Gets Worse
The Stauffers' lives began collapsing around them. A Change.org petition was created two days after the outrage began. It demanded that the Stauffer family demonetize all of their videos and posts featuring Huxley before his rehoming.
Misusing Adoption Funds
At its peak, the petition earned 44,000 signatures. The Stauffer family lost all of their sponsors. As it turned out, the Stauffers' sponsors had offered them far more money than Myka had originally let on. Fans' donations toward Huxley's adoption fee now seemed even more like a huge scam. The Internet refused to let the Stauffers get away with this...
Contacting the Authorities
A few days after Myka revealed the truth, the Delaware County Sheriff's Office released a statement saying that they had received "several inquiries regarding the welfare" of Huxley. The police told the public that Huxley was "not missing." Still, due to the circumstances, they did agree to the idea of opening a welfare investigation...
Police Statement
The police released a statement on the matter, which read: “Our primary concern is for the well-being of this child as well as the other children in the household. Our investigation is ongoing and will include contact with all children to ensure their safety. All adoption cases are confidential and must go through a thorough process, with specific requirements and safeguards."
Developing Case
"In private adoptions, there are the same legal requirements that must be adhered to," the statement continued. "These include home studies as well as background checks on the adopting parent(s). In this case, we are confident that the appropriate process is occurring." Despite this, the aftermath of Huxley's rehoming was devastating for the family...
The Aftermath
The day after the police released their statement, the above photo was posted on the Stauffer's family Instagram with no caption. Immediately afterward, the family deleted all social media evidence of Huxley from their accounts. This case is still actively developing, but some more information recently came to light...
They Rehomed Him In Secret
Since Huxley's disappearance, the Delaware County Sheriff's Office partnered with the WACAP (World Association for Children and Parents) to determine Huxley's whereabouts. This was the agency that the family used to adopt Huxley. However, they failed to communicate with the agency when they gave him up...
Irresponsible Family
The WACAP stated that the situation is "highly unusual" and needs to be treated with the utmost care and consideration. The Stauffers did not respond to the agency's statement. When fans began to look back on videos regarding Huxley's health issues, they noticed a pattern of lies...
What Is the Truth?
Myka and James knew that Huxley had a severe brain tumor. Myka stated in a video before she adopted Huxley that she "was a former oncologist's assistant, so tumors didn't scare her." Then, after Huxley was rehomed, the couple stated that they did not know the extent of Huxley's ailments. Things weren't adding up...
Purchasing a Mansion
Following the disappearance of Huxley, the Stauffer family started happily posting on social media again, as if nothing was out of the ordinary. They moved into a brand new, enormous mansion. It can only be assumed that this was purchased with the money they earned through YouTube. If they could afford to live here, how could they not afford to adopt Huxley?
No Accountability
Despite serious public pressure to speak out and acknowledge their wrongdoings, the Stauffer family stayed silent. It was no mistake that the videos featuring Huxley were also the most-watched on Myka's channel. In a way, the family may have discarded Huxley, but they used his popularity with their viewers to buy themselves a brand new home…
They've Done Wrong
Despite the backlash, Myka and her family have once again started to gain back lost subscribers on her YouTube channel. Her longtime supporters are attempting to empathize with Myka's decision to rehome Huxley—but given the circumstances, how is that possible?
Unacceptable Behavior
The reason that the Stauffer family is beginning to regain traction on YouTube is that people want to believe that they did the right thing. After all, it is difficult to swallow the grim reality surrounding Huxley's adoption, full of lies, deceit, and secret wealth...
Walk a Mile in Their Shoes
The Stauffers adopted a child knowing that he had disabilities that would complicate his upbringing. Doctors advised them not to go through with it, but the Stauffers went ahead and used their followers' money to adopt Huxley anyway. Their followers are trying to justify their actions...
Understanding That Mentality
Some people were willing to overlook Myka and James' behavior due to their loyalty to the family. Fortunately, a large portion of their fans fought against that mentality. Many people spoke out about the injustices perpetrated by the Stauffers...
Ohh... That's Got To Hurt
The most common belief regarding Myka's decision to rehome Huxley is the idea that she viewed him as a "pet, as opposed to a living, breathing human being." The general consensus is that Myka favored her biological children over the life of the child that she adopted. When questioned about what she would do if one of her biological children was diagnosed with autism, Myka refused to release a statement...
The Money Is Still Flowing
The Stauffer family owns three extremely successful YouTube channels, despite their family channel coming under scrutiny. The family took a financial hit when they demonetized the videos with Huxley and lost all of their sponsorships. Myka was in the process of being turned into a Barbie doll, but Barbie shut her out as soon as the scandal began...
All in All
After everything that happened, the Stauffers are still wealthy, comfortable, and living well within their means. Although we may never learn Myka's true intentions behind adopting Huxley, the Stauffer family doesn't seem to be going anywhere anytime soon. If Myka and James really faked those tears and tried to make the world forget about Huxley before they decided to tell the truth, then hopefully justice will one day be served...