Teen Mom’s Catelynn Lowell Gives Update on Drama with Carly’s Adoptive Parents: ‘We’re Still Blocked’

In an interview with TooFab, the Teen Mom: The Next Chapter star opened up about where she and Tyler currently stand with Brandon and Teresa, and revealed whether or not they’ve had contact with their daughter, Carly, 15.

Last season, Tyler and Catelynn claimed that Brandon and Teresa were not going to move forward with that year’s annual summer visit, saying the couple had stopped communicating with them via text after they allegedly refused to let them see their daughter on her 15th birthday. Both Catelynn and Tyler later took to social media to share their frustrations and subsequently received backlash from fans.

As shown in an upcoming episode, which was seemingly filmed this past fall, the couple — who also share three young children — met with their adoption counselor, Dawn, to discuss the drama with Carly’s adoptive parents. After Dawn ultimately suggested Catelynn and Tyler take a “pause” from their attempts to get in contact, they reluctantly agreed.

Now, several months later, Catelynn says the situation hasn’t changed.

“There hasn’t been any improvement. We’re still blocked. I still have no way of communicating with them, even if I wanted to. So no, it’s still the same,” she told TooFab.

The 32-year-old admitted that it’s been “really hard” not to be able to speak to their daughter, sharing that it’s “definitely brought up a lot of PTSD” for her and Tyler.

“It made a lot of like the emotions that happened, you know, in the hospital when we were placing her and stuff resurface and you almost relived them all over again, which that’s what PTSD does, is you go right to where you were and you relive it in a sense,” Catelynn said.  “So it’s been really hard and it’s been difficult. I think we have leaned on each other a lot, but then we’ve also leaned on our support systems. I have spoken to a lot of, you know, some of my birth mom friends that are years down the road than where I am. And I’ve also spoken to adoptees and gotten their perspectives and opinions too. And that has helped.”

“Now I’ve kind of turned it to where I’m just trying to do adoption, adoptee advocation, so having adoptees use their voices and speak their situations and what would’ve helped them, you know?” she added. “So yeah, it’s been hard, but we’ll get through it.”

Fans on the Teen Mom franchise will recall that Catelynn and Tyler welcomed Carly when they were just 16, and ultimately made the difficult decision to put her up for adoption — all of which was documented first on 16 and Pregnant and then on the subsequent Teen Mom spinoffs.

And as previously mentioned, Catelynn and Tyler received some criticism from fans after they took to social media in real-time to share their frustrations with Brandon and Teresa while last season was airing. Despite this, Catelynn said she believes being on the MTV reality show hasn’t hurt the situation, but rather held Carly’s adoptive parents “accountable.”

“Honestly, part of me says that I think that if we weren’t on the show, I think they would’ve cut off contact a long time ago,” she told TooFab. “I think the show has kind of maybe had to hold them a little bit accountable for what they promised.”

“I truly believe that,” she continued. “I mean, usually, when a birth parent decides on an open adoption, most open adoptions close within the first five years, and that’s not because the birth parents want it to happen, it’s because the adoptive parents just do it. So I do think, you know, it is maybe, I think that they would’ve cut it off a long time ago, honestly, and not for Carly’s sake, I think for their own, but that’s just my personal opinion.”

Catelynn added that the “problem” with adoption is “it’s not legally binding,” but rather a “just a verbal agreement.”

“And anybody can walk from a verbal agreement,” she said.

Teen Mom: The Next Chapter premieres on Thursday, January 30 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on MTV.