Beginning in 2016, the Columbus, Ohio-based family vloggers Myka and James Stauffer began sharing their adoption journey online — including the decision to raise Huxley, a son with special needs who they had adopted from China. A few years later, when fans began to notice Huxley no longer appearing in videos, the Stauffers published the since-deleted announcement video ‘An Update on Our Family,’ in which they admitted that they had dissolved the guardianship of the then four-year-old. In addition to being widely criticized for their decision to document and monetize the entire process, the Stauffers became associated with the words forever family and rehome, commonly used terms for the adoption of animals. (Notably, the couple did not use the latter word when discussing their situation.) They retired from their YouTube channel in May 2020 following the backlash.
On January 15, Max released the first episode of a docuseries about the Stauffers, An Update on Our Family, titled after the YouTube video and based on the 2020 New York feature by Caitlin Moscatello. The three-part series, which is being released each Wednesday through January 29, tracks how the couple grew their channel, what led to them adopting in the first place, and how they determined to give Huxley up. If you want more context before diving into the series, here’s a snapshot of what’s happened with the Stauffers since 2020.
What happened to Huxley?
The Stauffer family, headed by Myka and James, first began their adoption journey in 2016 with hopes of welcoming a fifth child into their home. They documented their journey on YouTube and had already had a name picked out: Huxley. Eventually, in 2017, Myka and James adopted a 2-year-old boy from China who was in the Special Focus program, a program for adoptable children with specific medical needs. Afterward, the family channel focused on Huxley’s integration into the family, focusing on the milestones and challenges Myka and James faced raising a child with special needs including autism. However, two years after the couple adopted Huxley, they silently “privated” any videos featuring him; fans also noticed that Huxley’s car seat was no longer in their vehicle. The couple was reportedly deleting or ignoring any questions related to Huxley.
On May 26, 2020, the Stauffers broke their silence and shared that their adoptive son is no longer in their family in a now-deleted video titled “An Update to Our Family.” “There wasn’t a minute that I didn’t try our hardest, and I think what Jim is trying to say is that after multiple assessments, after multiple evaluations, numerous medical professionals have felt that he needed a different fit and that his medical needs, he needed more,” Myka stated. She went on to share that Huxley is with his “forever family” and his “new mommy” has “medical-professional training.” (Before vlogging, Myka was a registered nurse.)
What happens in the docuseries?
The docuseries introduces the world of family channels on YouTube as told by viewers, journalists, and vloggers alike before homing in on the Stauffers. It follows their journey on YouTube and how the popularity of documenting their life online led to the adoption and abandonment of Huxley.
What videos should I watch to understand more?
At the height of the controversy, the Stauffers deleted both their family vlogging channel and Myka’s personal channel that still featured family content. However, some of their vlogs are still available to watch through Internet Archive.
In one of their earlier vlogs, before Huxley’s adoption, titled “NEW HOUSE TOUR 2016,” James and Myka start the video shopping at Target with baby Radley and celebrating their move to Ohio. “Did you just buy a house?” James coos to the baby in the shopping cart before asking the audience for recommendations on banks in the area. As the family entered their new home, James led the viewers on a tour of the property, highlighting the upgrades from their previous place (“His-and-her sinks, which we’ve never had before”), already showing the changes family vlogging has made to their lifestyle.
About five months before the couple announced they had “rehomed” Huxley, Myka posted a vlog in December 2019 titled, “I HAVE BEEN STRUGGLING WITH THIS … Day In the life of a mom of 5,” in which she talked about her schedule as a stay-at-home mom and how she works on Huxley’s therapy progress. “One of the things that I’m going to work through right now is doing a little therapy session with Hux. He’s learning six new signs today,” Myka shared as she panned the camera to a notebook filled with lessons for Huxley. “We noticed that when we do speech therapy or when we do ABA, he doesn’t learn as fast as he does when it’s just me and him sitting in a room together.” She then cut to their therapy session, where Myka quizzed him on the signs he’s learning. He giggled as she repeated words like phone or more. “The most silliest child you’ll ever meet in your life is Huxley,” Myka told the camera. In the video, she seemed hopeful about the progress he’s made so far and concludes the video by telling the viewers about the struggles she’s having with her newborn, Onyx.
What’s happened since?
Backlash was immediate. Accusing the couple of using Huxley for financial gain, a petition was created to remove monetized videos featuring the child. The Stauffers lost sponsorships from Fabletics, Playtex Baby, and more. Myka has remained offline since June 24, 2020. Her last post was an apology on Instagram. “I wanted to help so bad I was willing to bring home any child that needed me,” she wrote. “For this I was naive, foolish, and arrogant.”
However, James did not take a social-media break. After the backlash, he posted on his car-washing page, Stauffer Garage, just one month after their final family vlog video. Since the scandal, he still actively uploads to the Stauffer Garage socials, though Myka and their children make no appearance.