Tyler Baltierra has made it clear over the past year or so that his opinion of adoption has changed drastically since he and his now-wife Catelynn Lowell placed their daughter Carly for adoption at her birth in 2009. Once a staunch advocate of the adoption process, Tyler has become very (very) outspoken about the pitfalls of adoption, and now advocates against people placing children for adoption.
In a recent interview with the Cake For Dinner podcast the Teen Mom star stated that his opinion on adoption changed after witnessing how poorly Catelynn was treated as a teen birth mom by everyone— including the adoption counselors, their parents and others. According to Tyler, this has made him want to prevent “every unnecessary adoption” and speak out about what he says are alternatives to placing a baby for adoption.
“At the age that I am now, I look back and it’s hard not to get angry a little bit,” he said on the podcast. “It’s hard not to be like, ‘Where were people?'”
Tyler stated that, should one of his three daughters ever find herself in a situation similar to Catelynn’s, he would be there for them no matter what.
“I can’t imagine not being in that hospital room, even going through what [Catelynn] went through,” he said. “Like, where was everybody? How dare they not be there for her in the way that she needed. And not only our parents but everybody involved: the adoption agency, everybody. Honestly, we were listening to all these adults and you have this poor girl– child— in crisis…”
(The Ashley recently watched Catelynn’s 16 and Pregnant episode and Cate’s mom April and Ty’s mom Kim were in the room when Catelynn had Carly; however, neither one of them seemed to be very supportive during that period, particularly April.)
As The Ashley has previously reported, Carly’s parents, Brandon and Teresa Davis, closed Carly’s adoption in 2024 and have not allowed Catelynn and Tyler to communicate with her since. In past interviews, both Cate and Ty have expressed that they may have made different choices regarding Carly had they had legal counsel and adults looking out for them.
“I look back and am just like, ‘Where was the support?’ This [adoption] was so unnecessary,” he said.
Tyler went on to say that he hopes to prevent other teens and parents from making the same decisions he and Cate made.
“That’s why my position is kind of like, I just want to prevent every unnecessary adoption,” he said. “That should be everyone’s goal. We shouldn’t want more babies that need to be adopted. As a society, we should be like, ‘What’s going on?’
“I look back now and I just think of how many people really failed [Catelynn],” Tyler continued. “And I think about— now as a father— her dad didn’t even come to the hospital! He didn’t really talk to her at all. He was in Florida, and I just think about that a lot. I just can’t wrap my head around it.”
Tyler suggested several ways birth parents can avoid going through with an official adoption.
“There’s a lot of alternatives [to adoption],” he said. “There’s permanent legal guardianship. There is kinship adoption within a family. There’s multiple ways to provide safe, alternative care for children without erasing their identity, without falsifying birth certificates and stuff like that. As far as adoption goes, it’s just a legal transfer of parental rights. It doesn’t really mean anything other than that.”
“There’s ways to go about it where you don’t have to sever the identity and origin of the adoptee, and also maintain a little bit of protection for birth parents,” he added.
Tyler stated that the United States needs to do a lot of work on its approach to adoption. He then confirmed that he’s very motivated to do part of that work.
“I’ve written multiple senators and congressmen, and even state representatives, to even just listen to me,” he said. “I’ve had no callback yet but I’m still gonna keep writing them.”
Tyler also spoke about the documentary film he’s producing about the adoption industry in the United States called “All You Have Is Love.”
“[It will be about] kind of where it started from and how we got to this point and the supply and demand issue that we have,” Tyler said of the film. “So, I advocate [for] the adoptees. Birth parents, yeah, I believe we need advocacy too, but these adoptees are the only ones who are forced into this dynamic and this lifestyle without any consent. Adoptees get these rights taken away and it just doesn’t make any sense to me.”
@tylerbaltierramtv I’m so excited to finally announce the documentary film that I’m producing along with so many other extraordinary people. This is by far the most important project I’ve ever had the honor of being a part of & I’m so proud of it! This is the story of the American Infant Adoption Industry & this is the story of truth that the industry never wanted to be told. But if you know me, you know I don’t take it lightly when people attempt to silence me or anyone else that’s marginalized like biological parents & adoptees. This is the story that needs to be told & is long overdue! This is… ”All You Have Is Love: The Untold Story of America’s Infant Adoption Industry”… COMING SOON to a tv/theater screen near you! #Adoption #AdopteeVoices #AdoptionIndustry #AllYouHaveIsLove ♬ original sound – Tyler Baltierra
Elsewhere during the podcast episode, Tyler also addressed how he talks to his other three daughters about Carly’s adoption and why they’re no longer allowed to see or speak to Carly.
“We have pictures of Carly in our house. I refuse to just bury her. I will not do that,” Tyler said. “I think that’s a huge disservice not only to Carly but it’s a huge disservice to my girls [at home] because that’s their sister…
“All I say is that when [Carly] can [come see us] maybe she will. I don’t want to build up too much hope for her in the case that Carly wants nothing to do with her sisters,” he said. “I don’t think that’s going to happen but it could.”
You can watch Tyler’s full interview with the Cake for Dinner podcast below.
(Photos: Instagram; TikTok; MTV)
3 Responses
Didn’t he threaten Cait himself that he would leave her if she didn’t go through with the adoption? Did he forget he’s one of the people who “failed” his wife?
He is SO god damn narcissistic!
STFU already !!!!
So you would stop talking about her, bullshit!