Mummy blogger who "rehomed" adopted autistic son speaks out after backlash
The mummy blogger who “rehomed” her adopted son has been dumped by multiple brand deals after receiving huge backlash for the decision.
Myka Stauffer was heavily criticised after revealing she and husband James had given up their son Huxley, four.
The couple said the decision came after discovering he had “medical needs” that they weren’t aware of when they adopted him from China in 2017.
Soon after justifying their decision, Stauffer defended their decision, saying her former son – who has autism and is non-verbal – “wanted” a new home and hinted at problems between him and their four other kids.
Now, many brands have chosen to drop Stauffer.
Stauffer who has a following of 162,000 on Instagram and 700,000 on YouTube, had formed partnerships with big-name companies like Big Lots, TJ Maxx and Danimals yoghurt.
But according to People, many have dumped the mummy blogger over the incident.
Stauffer hit a second wave of backlash when she responded to a critic in the comments section of her video titled “an update on our family”.
“We would never just give up a child with special needs, this is a personal matter to Hux. It had nothing to do with he just had Autism,” Stauffer wrote, defending the backlash.
“Multiple scary things happened inside the home towards our other children, and if these events happened with one of my biological kids, after all the help and after the behaviours we witnessed sadly we would have no other choice then to seek help and get their needs met.”
She goes on to say Huxley “wanted this decision 100%” explaining she “saw” it when he was with his new “family” as the child was not able to communicate with speech.
“He constantly chose them and signed and showed tons of emotion to show us and let us know he wanted this,” she said.
However, not many were convinced, branding the defence as “disgusting”.
“Oh yes. Non-verbal Huxley told you I don’t want to live with you guys no more send me to these strangers so that I can be traumatised even more in my little life,” one wrote.
“It’s so disgusting. Why adopt a child you knew was going to have problems just to toss them away?” another said.
“OMG she’s so delusional,” one scoffed.
While one said: “Obviously having a child with disabilities is incredibly challenging and can certainly present difficulties with other children but to say that this kid is some kind of sinister, dangerous figure is so irresponsible.”
Some of Stauffer’s subscribers accused her of using Huxley solely to gain a bigger following and earn more money on her YouTube channel.
Some declared the decision “awful” for both Huxley and the pair’s four other children: Kova, Jaka, Radley and Onyx.
“@MykaStauffer adopted an autistic child from China and after years of having him, she gave him up for adoption because he had ‘bad behaviour’ after using him for $$$ on her YouTube channel,” wrote one user.
“What Myka Stauffer and her husband did is awful. You don’t just give a child back … “ one tweeted.
“She adopted a child for views and then got rid of him and treated him like a brand deal,” another said.
There are even calls to have the family’s sponsors pulled, with angry internet justice seekers calling to #cancelstauffers.
In the video where the Stauffer’s talk about “rehoming” Huxley, the pair said the child had autism and brain damage.
“Numerous medical professionals have felt that he needed a different fit. He needed more,” Stauffer says while fighting back tears in the video filmed in the couple’s bed.
She added that an adoption agency had helped place Huxley with his “forever family.”
“He’s thriving, he’s doing really well, and his new mummy has medical, professional training,” she added.