Teen Mom stars Tyler and Catelynn Baltierra have recently been at odds with the adoptive parents of their first daughter, Carly, and their already tense dynamic appears to have broken down entirely.
Catelynn was initially cast on MTV’s 16 And Pregnant in 2009, before she and Tyler joined the cast of Teen Mom, Teen Mom OG, and later, VH1’s Couple’s Therapy.
In 2009, Catelynn and Tyler elected to place Carly for adoption with a couple named Brandon and Teresa — the same adoption agreement to which the pair are now objecting.
Over the past few weeks, Catelynn in particular has been speaking out about deteriorating relations with Carly’s adoptive parents Brandon and Teresa.
Although conflict over Tyler and Catelynn’s adoption agreement has been ongoing for much of this year, it isn’t new — back in 2017, RadarOnline reported that Brandon and Teresa had “denied” previously agreed upon visitation:
“The adoptive parents of Catelynn Lowell and Tyler Baltierra’s birth daughter Carly denied their yearly visits with the 8-year-old in 2016.
“After two years of not seeing their daughter, the Teen Mom OG stars will finally be reunited with their oldest child. When it was time for their yearly check-in visit in 2015, Brandon and Teresa ignored their request.”
In November 2016, an adoption blog advocating for biological parents addressed the same conflict over denied visits, arguing that Catelynn and Tyler were misled by an adoption facilitator named Dawn:
“Catelynn and Tyler sought help [with arranging visits with Carly] from Dawn, the social worker at Bethany Christian Services who arranged the adoption.
“Dawn pointed out their agreement allowed them only to request visits which would be granted at the discretion of the adoptive parents as ‘they determined what is in the best interests of Carly.'”
In response, Catelynn pointed out that she was just 16 when she agreed to the adoption, a relevant detail about informed consent with which many Teen Mom fans agree.
Catelynn and Tyler’s adoption agreement was discussed on Reddit in April, and several viewers asserted that it was clear back in 2009 that the teenagers’ youth and naivete were exploited:
“[Dawn] absolutely indulged [Catelynn and Tyler’s] childish fantasies. [Dawn] knew it would only matter what the contract said. And [Dawn] knew that [Catelynn and Tyler] didn’t understand [the adoption agreement].”
Catelynn and Tyler wed in 2015, and went on to have three more children, and in 2022, Teen Mom fans re-hashed a smaller conflict which occurred after Carly’s adoptive parents interrupted a dance with Carly at the wedding.
The original poster seethed:
“You already contributed to the exploitation of this vulnerable couple and adopted their child. They’re not about to run off with her. Let them have that moment.”
A commenter speculated that Catelynn and Tyler’s ongoing involvement with the Teen Mom franchise was a factor in Carly’s parents waffling on the agreement:
“[In the adoption agreement, Carly’s adoptive parents] agreed to an open adoption with a teen couple who were being filmed for one episode in a series about teen pregnancy, not years and years of shows.”
Years and years have indeed passed since Carly was born in 2009, and her fifteenth birthday in May seems to have triggered the now-current flurry of Instagram posts from Catelynn and Tyler and the complete breakdown of their open adoption agreement.
A Timeline Of Catelynn And Tyler’s Current Adoption Dispute
As noted above, relations between Catelynn, Tyler, and Carly’s adoptive parents have been fraught since at least 2015, when Brandon and Teresa declined once-yearly visits.
In June 2023, the Baltierras had an emotional visit with Carly, and in October, the visit and Catelynn’s sadness after it ended aired on Teen Mom: The Next Chapter, something that could have influenced the current adoption dispute.
In February, Tyler posted on Twitter/X, hinting that Brandon and Teresa don’t approve of him.
Then on May 10 and 11, both Catelynn and Tyler spoke out about tension with Carly’s adoptive parents in since-expired Instagram Stories, with Catelynn saying in part:
“Adoption is wild … Being at the mercy of someone that can say no… I know I chose this, there’s no need to tell me! … I will just never understand how you say that you ‘love’ us and will always be ‘blessed’ for us …
“BUT you can’t take TWO days out of your entire year to just meet up for dinner and do a park or something small? Especially when we said we would travel to YALL?!”
Tyler subsequently said:
“[Placing a child for adoption is] a pain that’s equal to death & I don’t wish it upon my worst enemy. At least with death, there’s a tragic finality to it … tragic yes, but it’s final.
“There’s no guessing, there’s no false hope, and there’s nothing you can do to bring them back or change it. But grieving your child while they still live is truly an unexplainable pain in so many ways, I won’t even attempt to put it into words.”
Carly’s birthday is May 18, and the posts very clearly seemed to be in relation to that date, on which Catelynn shared an Instagram post and wrote:
“Today is Carly’s 15th birthday! I wonder what kind of day she’ll have and what she’ll do. I wish things were different so we could celebrate with her. I hope she feels our love and has a great day! I look forward to knowing that one day we will be lucky enough to celebrate with her and B&T I can’t wait for that day! @tylerbaltierramtv we are soooo blessed to have our girls!!”
If unwanted publicity is fueling the conflict, a June 14 Us Magazine exclusive interview with Tyler may have exacerbated it, as he told the outlet:
“To be honest with you, Carly’s always the first one I think about on that day, especially as the kids get older. I always wake up to little gifts here and there, and so I always think about, ‘Wow, what would it be like to have an almost 15-year-old saying, ‘Hey, happy Father’s Day, dad.’
“It hits you like a ton of bricks, and it gets more intense as the kids get older and the little gifts get more sentimental.”
Publicity is one thing, but media coverage of the dispute between the Baltierras and Carly’s adoptive parents also made it difficult not to sympathize with the former teen parents — which, again, could be driving resentment on the part of Brandon and Teresa.
Tyler continued, describing his belief that Carly was fated to “come into this world in this way”:
“I know internally for a fact that Carly’s soul was meant to come into this world in this way. I don’t know why yet. I’m not sure, but I can say in the 15 years that she’s been alive, she has changed multiple lives.
“She has had a ripple effect on countless lives in my family and Cate’s family and she almost has no idea the power that her life has done to people.”
Some fans have called Catelynn and Tyler “delulu” (“delusional”) when it comes to Carly, but Tyler told US that he didn’t expect her to return to them when she became a legal adult:
Just because she’s 18, that’s not some magical age or number where she’s going to come running back to us or anything like that.
When August rolled around, Catelynn’s frustration over the not-so-open adoption agreement boiled over, and she re-posted a critical TikTok from the account @first.birth.mom, where a voiceover said:
“You have massively f***d me over. I will never think of you the same. Enjoy your bad karma, rot in hell, evil b****.”
On August 27, Catelynn re-shared a similar reel on Instagram, with a caption alongside it reading in part:
“One day Carly will be around to see our side and have all the facts from our side and make her choice. Ask questions etc. Whatever choice that is I will always support. But she also will see the texts and everything from over the years.
“I will NEVER bash her parents. I will ONLY share the ways I have always tried etc and how many times I have been shut down etc. Like @first.birth.mom says here it’s NOT bashing or ‘talking trash.’
“It’s literally just about speaking the truth about adoption, the relationships and how it affects people involved. That’s it. It not only affects me, my husband, and the children we are raising but it also affects Carly!”
In a September 9 Instagram Story, Catelynn said that she’d been blocked entirely by Carly’s adoptive parents, and she lamented:
“I gave them one of my biggest gifts ever … A child I grew and love so deeply … I will not let them take my voice… I post so that hopefully Carly will see it and see I have always tried … To know I mean nothing to the APs [Adoptive Parents] but just a womb to give a child hurts my heart …”
That brings us to September 11, when Tyler chimed in with another Instagram Story, which began:
“I respect everyone’s opinions on this sensitive & very personal subject. However, I don’t agree with the fact that some say we ‘learned to manipulate situations to be a victim & get sympathy’ …
“I made a decision as a child that will inevitably affect me as an adult & the children I’m raising for the rest of our lives. I deserve all the criticism and judgements that may come out of that decision. I don’t want any ‘coddling’ nor do I believe I deserve it whatsoever … “
Tyler added that he believed Carly’s adoptive parents “have chosen to finally cut [him and Catelynn] off,” which he said they have “every right” to do, as he alluded to undisclosed “truths” involving money and their reality TV careers.