I don’t follow any YouTube personality, so I’m just going from other outlets’ reporting that Myka and James Stauffer are popular YouTube personalities. They make YouTube videos – which I assume are pretty popular – about their family life with their five kids. One of their five kids, Huxley, was adopted from China almost three years ago. Huxley apparently has autism, at least according to Myka and James. And because of of his autism, the Stauffers have decided to “rehome” their son. They gave him away. Because he didn’t fit in with their inspo-parent YouTube life and it was too hard.

YouTuber Myka Stauffer and her husband James have announced that they have decided to “rehome” their son Huxley, who they adopted nearly three years ago from China. Myka and James said that they weren’t aware of what it would be like to take care of Huxley, who has autism.

“Once Huxley came home, there was a lot more special needs that we weren’t aware of, and that we were not told,” James said in a video shared on Tuesday. “For us, it’s been really hard hearing from the medical professionals, a lot of their feedback, and things that have been upsetting,” he continued. “We’ve never wanted to be in this position. And we’ve been trying to get his needs met and help him out as much as possible… We truly love him.”

“There’s not an ounce of our body that doesn’t love Huxley with all of our being,” Myka tearfully added. “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.”

“Do I feel like a failure as a mom? Like, 500 percent,” Myka said, saying that Huxley was living with a “new mommy” in a “forever home.”

“The last couple months have been like the hardest thing I could have ever imagined to going to choosing to do because ultimately, after pouring our guts and our heart into this little boy,” she said. “He is thriving, he is happy, he is doing really well, and his new mommy has medical professional training, and it is a very good fit.”

The couple asked their subscribers to honor their privacy and said that they wouldn’t be going into further details about why they made the decision place their son with another family.

[From People]

Is there anything more pathetic than the sentence “The couple asked their subscribers to honor their privacy”? Especially when it’s in regard to people being outraged that this couple is giving away a child who has developmental disabilities. I’m not going to pretend that I have first-hand knowledge about raising children or raising special needs children. What I do understand is that there are resources at the local, state and federal level for special needs kids. There are resources like that because most parents don’t give away their children – excuse me, “rehome” their children – when the children don’t fit in with their white mommy-inspo life. It feels like they adopted Huxley so he would look good on Instagram and they gave up when it got too hard.

Photos courtesy of Instagram.