Nearly a month after revealing that her adopted son Huxley had been placed with a new family, YouTuber Myka Stauffer has broken her silence to apologize on social media, according to People magazine.
Stauffer apologized for the “uproar” and wrote that she takes “full responsibility for all of the hurt that I have caused,” in a statement she posted to Instagram Wednesday night.
Stauffer faced heavy backlash in May after revealing in a video to her 700,000 YouTube followers that 4-year-old Huxley, who she and her husband James Stauffer adopted from China in 2017, had been “rehomed” and was living with a new family, the Deseret News previously reported.
Huxley was diagnosed with autism after he was adopted. Myka told her followers in May 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,” according to People.
Since making the announcement that Huxley is living with a new family, Stauffer has lost sponsorships with brands like Danimals and Mattel/Barbie, as well as thousands of YouTube followers, according to Fox News.
“This decision has caused so many people heart break and I’m sorry for letting down so many women that looked up to me as a mother,” Stauffer wrote in her Instagram post on Wednesday. “I’m sorry for the confusion, and pain I have caused, and I am sorry for not being able to tell more of my story from the beginning.”
Stauffer talked about the adoption process, which she said required only one day of video training, and wrote that she wishes she had been “more prepared” to take in Huxley.
“I wanted to help so bad I was willing to bring home any child that needed me. For this I was naive, foolish, and arrogant,” wrote Stauffer on Instagram.
Stauffer also addressed what she called “complete rumors,” such as the criticism from some followers that she was profiting off of videos of Huxley and his adoption process on her YouTube channel, which is monetized. The video of the Stauffers bringing Huxley home from China (which has now been made private) was viewed over 5.5 million times, according to USA Today.
“While we did receive a small portion of money from videos featuring Huxley and his journey, every penny and much more went back into his care,” Stauffer wrote in her Instagram post. “Getting Huxley the care and services he needed was very expensive and we made sure he got every service, and resource we could possibly find.”
Although a spokesman for the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office had previously said that an “investigation” was “ongoing” in Huxley’s case, as the Deseret News previously reported, Stauffer wrote on Wednesday, “We are not under any type of investigation.”
“We love Huxley and know that this was the right decision for his future,” Stauffer’s statement on Instagram concluded. “Praying that Huxley only has the best future in the entire world.”