A euthanised family dog and cancelled adoption: The controversy of YouTubers Nikki and Dan Phillippi.

In 2025, the ethics of family vlogging are under greater scrutiny than ever before.

The arrest of Ruby Franke and the continued fallout from Myka Stauffer's decision to "rehome" her adopted son have prompted a wave of backlash that shows no sign of slowing down.

As we hear more stories from the children of these influencers, like Shari Franke's account of growing up with Ruby Franke, we're starting to gain a deeper understanding of the damage these family channels can have on the children involved.

As the tide shifts, past scandals are also being re-examined. And that brings us to Nikki and Dan Phillippi, a once-popular YouTube couple who, in 2018, cancelled their plans to adopt a child after learning that they wouldn't be allowed to feature their child on social media for a year.

Who is Nikki Phillippi?

Nikki Phillippi is a lifestyle and family vlogger with close to 1.2 million subscribers.

She's been around forever (or more specifically, since late 2010), and built her platform on beauty and fashion content in the era when "beauty gurus" were all the rage, and they all went by their usernames rather than their real names — think Fleur de Force, Miss Glamorazzi, and the like.

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A post shared by Nikki Phillippi (@nikkiphillippi)

Nikki and Dan's relationship.

Nikki married her husband, Dan Phillippi, in 2008. They met as teenagers at a church poker night, and Nikki was instantly smitten.

In a vlog about their romance and marriage, Nikki said that "knew in [her] cells that [her] life was changed forever" after seeing Dan. But despite Nikki's best efforts to get him to notice her, he was preoccupied that evening.

After the church poker night, Nikki and Dan ran into one another a few more times in passing, and Nikki got the impression that Dan was brushing her off. But everything changed for them when Dan attended a community college event at which Nikki was singing.

After her performance, the pair talked for hours, and although there was some initial hesitation from Nikki, their romance blossomed shortly after that.

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A post shared by Nikki Phillippi (@nikkiphillippi)

Three months after they began dating, Dan told Nikki he could see himself marrying her in the future, and 11 months into their relationship, Dan proposed. Nikki was 19 at the time, and the pair tied the knot when she was 20.

As for where Dan fits into Nikki's YouTube career, he was always a part of her content, but in 2016, as family vlogging was booming in popularity on YouTube, Nikki began her pivot away from beauty content.

As channels like the Ace Family, the LaBrant Family and Ruby Franke's 8 Passengers channel became popular, Nikki shifted the focus of her content to align with the times.

While Nikki and Dan wouldn't become parents until 2020, she began incorporating Dan into her vlogs more frequently, posting videos about her home life, marriage, and Christian faith.

As a couple, Nikki and Dan documented their life together, and eventually, their journey into parenthood.

'We're going to be parents!'

In an April 2018 video titled 'We're going to be parents!', Nikki and Dan announced their plans to adopt a baby.

Nikki said that she and Dan shared a faith-based calling to care for orphans, citing the bible verse James 1:27: "Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

Nikki said that this verse influenced her decision to pursue adoption rather than trying to conceive a child of their own.

At the time, Nikki also said that she did not want to carry or give birth to a child. With a history of injuries and chronic pain from dancing, Nikki acknowledged that while her feelings on pregnancy and birth might change in the future, "the thought of carrying a child [sounded] like a literal nightmare" to her at the time.

"Carrying my own body weight is enough right now," she continued, "and I think that … growing a baby and birthing a baby… does a lot of irreversible stuff [to the body]."

Nikki said that she felt like she could "love a kid who [needed] a mum and a dad" without having to give birth.

Together, Nikki and Dan also said that they saw adoption as a potential solution to overpopulation, and were also inspired by Nikki's family's experience with adoption (Nikki's parents adopted her brother, Casey, from China when she was 19).

Nikki and Dan's adoption journey.

Over the following months, Nikki documented the progress of their adoption journey.

Citing anecdotes of families they knew of who had experienced difficulties with the domestic adoption process — including children being removed from their adoptive families and birth parents who had attempted to reclaim custody — Nikki and Dan decided on international adoption. They believed international adoption would be a smoother option, and one that would hopefully offer more permanence.

Initially, the couple wanted to follow in Nikki's parents' footsteps and adopt from China, but after learning that "most of the kids in the orphanage in China are high special needs", they opted out, saying they felt they would be better equipped to parent a child without significant medical or developmental challenges.

So they turned to Thailand, where they said they would have a better "likelihood of getting a child that has lower special needs" or was "completely healthy".

'We're not adopting from Thailand anymore.'

At the end of May 2018, Nikki and Dan uploaded a video titled 'We're not adopting from Thailand anymore'.

In the 26-minute clip, the couple explained that they had come up against a serious obstacle in their adoption journey: Thailand's social media policy.

Noting that they were "really bummed" about it, Nikki said that they were still planning to adopt, but Thailand was off the table now.

Nikki explained that Holt International, the faith-based adoption agency they'd been working with, had gotten in contact with her. She was excited, hoping to work with them on adoption advocacy. But they asked if she was aware of the social media policy that she would have to abide by if she were to go through with adopting a child from Thailand.

Nikki said that she had assumed it would be her "own version of common sense", which to her meant not posting about their future child until it was "officially" theirs.

"I wasn't planning on sharing [before] then, because who knows?" she said. "That kid may not end up being our kid… and we didn't wanna violate someone's privacy that isn't, like, our kid."

But that wasn't the case. As Nikki recalled, the woman from the agency told her that Thailand had its own "unique law" in which "after you pick up your child, and they're your child, you are not allowed to talk about them or share any images, photos, videos, anything about them online for a year".

"Yeah," Dan interjected. "Nikki's got a YouTube channel; we share a whole lot."

"When that hit, we were like, 'What? Wait… WHAT?!'" Nikki said.

Nikki went on to say that after spending some time "going around the house… trying to figure out how this could work, like, #babyblurface", it quickly became apparent to them that they wouldn't be able to work around this law.

"It's not just a rule that … you can't share anything or talk about your kid for a year," Dan said.

"It's that the adoption is not finalised until a year later. So the kid's gonna be living in our house for a year, and it's not — that whole time, it's not our kid."

Nikki went on to say that she was also concerned that if they accidentally posted content of the child, that it could damage the relationship between the adoption agency and Thailand, which could impact other families with adoptions in progress.

"I almost SnapChatted while I was signing an NDA once!" she exclaimed. "I'm gonna totally mess up! And then I'll ruin it for other families!"

Nikki said that the adoption agency had even advocated on their behalf, and asked the Thai government if they would consider making an exception for them "because their whole lives are online", but the response was, "Nope! No exceptions.

"So we were like, 'Well, this is not what God has [for] us,'" Nikki said.

After pulling out of the Thai adoption program, Nikki announced they were turning to South Korea to adopt.

'We're not adopting from Korea anymore.'

In September 2018, Nikki and Dan uploaded another adoption update, letting their followers know that they were no longer pursuing adoption from Korea, either.

In this video, the couple said that their adoption agency felt "strongly" that a Korean judge would likely decline their application to adopt "because of how public [they were] in [their] advocacy for adoption".

The couple felt that Holt, the adoption agency, was being "a little too cautious", but that ultimately, they didn't want to spend "all this money" visiting Korea if it was going to be "a huge waste of time" in the end if they did get rejected.

Nikki and Dan said they were still planning to adopt, but that they wanted to "finalise a few more things" before announcing the country they'd try next.

Nikki and Dan's family today.

To date, Nikki and Dan have not adopted, and in May 2019, the couple announced they were expecting their first biological child.

In a video, the couple shared that after 15 months pursuing adoption and fostering options, the disappointments they'd faced had led them to pause their adoption plans in favour of biological parenthood.

Nikki said it was a decision they made based largely on her age and the realisation that she had a "time limit" for having biological children, while they would be able to pursue adoption again down the road if they chose.

Nikki and Dan welcomed their son Logan in January 2020, and their daughter Lizzie in 2024. These days, Nikki posts lifestyle and family content, and enjoys sharing her views on topics like abortion, Trump, and "medical freedom" in relation to vaccines.

On the topic of adoption, Nikki said in a 2022 video that she and Dan are open to pursuing adoption again in the future if God presents a clear path for them to do so.

Then there was the dog…

In 2021, the couple received immense backlash after releasing a video sharing that they'd euthanised their dog, Bowser.

He had been "dangerous", they said, since he was attacked as a puppy by Nikki's parents' dog. But after some tense interactions with their son, they chose to put him down.

In the video where they told followers about Bowser, Dan explained that Logan was "grabby", (as babies often are), and had a few run-ins with the dog since learning to walk.

The incident that solidified their decision, they said, when Logan tried to take food from Bowser. The dog reacted — and while the baby wasn't hurt, Nikki and Dan decided he was too dangerous to be around their child.

In the comments section, people shared their feelings — and they were largely critical of the couple's decision.

"It was your responsibility," said one. "They didn't take care of their son… They placed the blame on the poor dog who acted on instinct."

"There [are] so many actions you both could've taken to prevent this," wrote another.

Said a third, "The fact that you knew he had issues before and thought that putting him down was the only option when you could've gotten training is actually disgusting."

As a result, Nikki took a two-month break from posting, before returning to YouTube and declaring that she "refused to be cancelled".

Feature image: YouTube/NikkiPhillippi.