Tyler Baltierra is addressing fans who tell him his biological daughter Carly will come back into his life once she turns 18 next year.
As ‘Teen Mom’ fans know, Tyler— along with his now-wife Catelynn Lowell— placed Carly for adoption at birth with Brandon and Teresa Davis. Tyler has been very outspoken against adoption in recent years, and has discussed the things he would have done differently with Carly if he could go back and change the past. (As The Ashley has previously reported, Brandon and Teresa closed Carly’s adoption in 2024, and Ty and Cate have not had contact with her since then.)
Despite this, Tyler had a rather surprising reaction to fans who recently told him that Carly “will be home soon” with him and Cate.
“I get the sentiment with your comment & appreciate it so much but she is home with her mother & father,” Tyler replied. (He later reposted the comment to his Instagram Stories earlier this week.) “All we hope is that she has happiness, good health & autonomy!”
Tyler reposted a second, similar comment— and his response to it. The fan pointed out that Carly will be 18 soon, and that her being an adult could mean she will want to reestablish a connection with Catelynn, Tyler and their daughters.
“In about 9 months, your oldest will be 18,” the person wrote. “Time will tell.”
“Regardless if she ever chooses to reunite [with us] or not, we will always grieve what we were never worthy of having,” Tyler responded. “I have peace & trust in her spiritual wisdom. As long as she is doing whatever her heart is telling her to do & following that intuition, then I will be cheering her on. Whether that includes me, my wife or just her sisters, or none of us at all. I will support her because I have & always will love her unconditionally.”
Despite Tyler and Catelynn speaking out frequently against adoption— and aspects of Carly’s adoption— Tyler has always maintained that he will be OK if Carly doesn’t want a relationship with him once she’s an adult. In recent years, he and Catelynn have stressed that they would like to at least know if Brandon and Teresa closed the adoption because it was what Carly wanted, or what they wanted as her parents.
During an episode of their Cate & Ty Break It Down! podcast from earlier this month, Tyler and Cate spoke with a marriage and family therapist (who is also an adoptee herself). During the three-part conversation, the topic of what might happen once Carly turns 18 was brought up.
“If she wants nothing to do with us that’s all we want,” he said during the podcast episode posted on September 8. “If she wants everything to do with us that’s all we want. If she wants only to have contact with her sisters and not us that’s all we want. We literally only want what she wants and I think at this point it’s our responsibility to grieve the decision that we made [to place her for adoption] and I don’t think Carly… owe[s] anyone anything.
“She doesn’t owe her parents anything; she doesn’t owe us anything,” he continued. “She owes everything to herself to stand firm in her command her place in the world. This is how I feel. [I want her to] have safety and freedom doing that and making that decision.”
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Tyler stressed that the lack of communication with Brandon and Teresa has made it hard for them to know what Carly actually wants.
“…we only want whatever she wants,” he said. “The only crappy part about it is it’s hard to know what she wants when we can’t communicate— not even with her. But that might change one day, you know, but to know what she wants would require communication for whoever advocates for her… it’s like, this could all be eliminated with communication and clarification.”
Tyler addressed the topic back in 2024, writing in the comment section of a post on the official ‘Teen Mom’ Instagram account that showed a ‘Teen Mom: The Next Chapter’ scene about Carly.
“Of course I’d LOVE for her to be in our lives more & her sisters’ lives,” he wrote at the time. “The truth is, she might turn 18 & want nothing to do with us. It just might be too difficult for her or she simply might just want to move on with her life & not have us be involved…& ya know what? That’s OKAY! That is her right! That is her choice!
“Or she might want to just talk us one final time & tell us how much our decision to place her has negatively affected her or traumatized her life…& that’s OKAY! I would humbly fold my hands behind my back, lower my head & allow her to yell, cry, or scream at me if that’s what she needs. All I would say is ‘I’m sorry. You’re right. I love you.’”
Carly will turn 18 in May 2027.
RELATED STORY: ‘Teen Mom’ Star Tyler Baltierra & Dr. Kristen Kirkland Discuss How Similar Infant Adoption is to Human Trafficking
First of all, It’s hard to believe that Tyler would be that perfect since he’s never shown himself to be perfect, but okay. I hope he’s true to his word. I also don’t think there’s anything to be gained by knowing who put a stop to communication. It’s Brandon and Theresa’s job to protect their daughter, therefore well within their rights to exercize their best judgment. I don’t think it will benefit Tyler to know whether it was Carly or her parents.
It’s interesting how he swings wildly from side to side. He says this but then he had that podcast episode where he and a “doctor” likened adoption to human trafficking…… pick a mood Tyler and stick with it for more than 5 seconds. As we all know, he did a lot of damage to Carly with all the BS him and Catelynn said the last couple of years. So if Carly doesn’t reach out, he needs to take some responsibility for his actions. There’s such a disconnect to the things he says.
ngl those “carly will go back to catelynn and tyler as soon as she turns 18” comments have always been mad weird, im glad he did one thing right and straightened those weirdos out that brandon and teresa ARE carly’s mom and dad