The same People magazine issue (October 5, 2009) that told Katherine Heigl’s joyous adoption story also featured an update on the adoption featured on MTV’s reality show, 16 and Pregnant.
Four months after Catelynn Lowell and her boyfriend Tyler Baltierra placed their daughter with adoptive parents in North Carolina, they are starting their senior year of high school in Michigan–and coping with bittersweet moments haunted by memories of the baby who Catelynn says looks like both of them.
The couple are at peace with their decision, however. They decided to make an adoption plan for their baby soon after they learned Catelynn was pregnant. Catelynn wanted to break a cycle of financial insecurity and forced moves that she had experienced.
The couple’s friends were supportive of the adoption, which is not always the case: where once teenagers faced pressure to relinquish their babies, many report they now feel pressure to keep them and fear being labeled a horrible person if they “give their baby away”.
Catelynn says not taking their baby home was a heartbreaking decision, but she and Tyler are convinced it was the right one. Tyler believes they could have cared for baby Carly if they had to, but he felt, “Why risk your child maybe being in a bad situation?”
Tyler’s mom was supportive of the adoption plan, but Tyler’s father and Catelynn’s mother were against it.
The couple chose the adoptive parents from profiles provided by an agency. They have a semi-open adoption agreement which calls for them to be sent photos of Carly every three months for the first year and updates every six months after that. However, Carly’s adoptive parents now communicate with Tyler and Catelynn every few weeks.
The adoptive father says that while they didn’t expect the MTV cameras that captured their adoption, they realized they had “a unique opportunity to be spokespeople for adoption”.
Carly’s adoptive mother also knows that her daughter will have much more information about her birthparents, their feelings for her, and how the adoption came about because she will have the show to watch later on.
Birthparents Tyler and Catelynn also hope the show inspires other teens to consider adoption.
“We put it out there that adoption’s not a bad thing,” Catelynn says.
The couple says that making such a difficult decision brought them closer. Tyler’s current dreams include medical school, and Catelynn’s involve working in law enforcement and with animals. Both of them look forward to being a dad and mom some day, but only when they are ready for the responsibility—and that won’t be any time soon.
The couple is now filming MTV’s follow-up series, Teen Mom.
For more articles on teen pregnancy, click here.