Podcast Summary: Ashley Salazar – My 16 & Pregnant Journey

Podcast: Cate & Ty Break It Down
Hosts: Catelynn and Tyler Baltierra
Guest: Ashley Salazar
Date: February 11, 2026
Episode Theme: Navigating teen pregnancy, adoption, and kinship adoption in the real world, with an honest, vulnerable conversation about the emotional, relational, and long-term impacts.

Episode Overview

This episode features Ashley Salazar, known from MTV’s "16 and Pregnant" Season 2, discussing her personal journey with teen pregnancy, her decision to choose adoption, and the unique challenges and blessings of a kinship adoption (where her daughter was adopted within her biological family by her aunt and uncle). Ashley joins fellow "Teen Mom" alumni Catelynn and Tyler Baltierra for a candid, deeply personal conversation about the complexities of adoption, the emotions and regrets birth parents experience, kinship dynamics, and advice for women facing similar situations.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Ashley’s Teen Pregnancy & Entrance to "16 and Pregnant"

• Applying for the Show:
  • Ashley was 17 and in 11th grade when she became pregnant. She began blogging about her experience to take control of her story amidst gossip in her small Texas town. [01:00]
  • She got cast on “16 and Pregnant” after submitting her blog and going through a quick application process, including a home video filmed with an MTV-supplied flip camera. [02:41]

2. The Decision-Making Process: Adoption, Deadlines, and Ambivalence

• Considering Options:
  • Ashley openly shares she considered all options – abortion, adoption, and raising her daughter – before settling on adoption. [03:50]
  • The show’s production schedule created a sense of pressure and looming deadlines that influenced her decision:

    “It did impact my decision in the aspect of, like, a deadline... I think perhaps I felt, like, a little rushed.” (Ashley, [04:50])

  • There was prolonged back-and-forth, with Ashley even taking her daughter back for a month before ultimately proceeding with the adoption. [15:59]

3. Kinship Adoption: Unique Challenges and Dynamics

• Choosing Family as Adoptive Parents:
  • Her aunt and uncle, with whom she was very close growing up, became the adoptive parents. “To me, that was just like a blessing. Problem solved.” (Ashley, [09:19])
• Complex Emotions in Kinship:
  • Kinship adoption brings its own complications, especially around boundaries, roles, and feelings of jealousy:

    “I still find myself, like, getting a little jealous whenever she will call my cousin her sister… Even though I know that’s good for her, it frustrates me.” (Ashley, [14:44])

  • Boundaries were not discussed due to the closeness of the family, leading to confusion and pain post-placement. [11:11]

4. The Aftermath: Mental Health & Grief

• Intense Grief and Mental Health Struggles:
  • Ashley describes acute depression and suicidal thoughts after placement, compounded by lack of counseling/support for herself or her family:

    “I ended up, like, being, like, so distraught... I wanted to die... I was so depressed.” (Ashley, [13:40])

  • She recognizes in hindsight that counseling—both for her and the adoptive family—would have been helpful, especially around setting boundaries and processing grief.
• Difficulty Returning to “Normal”:
  • “Trying to hang out with people after... nobody can relate to what I’m going through. I think I was just partying a lot...it was all a blur.” (Ashley, [39:22])

5. Relationships After Adoption

• Relationship With Her Daughter:
  • Ashley is grateful for an open relationship with her daughter, who visits, stays with her, and keeps in touch by text, sharing the details of her teenage life. [22:18; 23:09]
  • Her daughter received counseling from a young age and has watched Ashley’s episode.
• Siblings Dynamics:
  • Ashley and her daughter’s birthfather later had a son together. Her son and daughter are full biological siblings and share a positive, if sometimes bittersweet, relationship.

    “He gets really sad about ‘I wish she lived with us’... He asks a lot of questions.” (Ashley, [25:49])

  • Both Catelynn and Ashley discuss how relinquishment impacts the children they raise post-adoption, a rarely discussed aspect. [27:31]

6. Lifelong Impacts & Regret

• Regret and Permission to Feel:
  • The panel stresses that it is normal and human for birth parents to have regrets, sadness, and lifelong pain, despite making the best decision they could at the time:

    “For me being a birth mom, I feel like it is a pain and a sorrow that I will carry with me until the day that I die.” (Catelynn, [30:17])

• Societal Expectation to “Move On”:
  • There is pressure on birth parents to “move on” or frame their adoption story as a “success,” but the reality is nuanced and ongoing. [45:33]
  • “A lot of the stuff that’s shown about it are like success stories... I wouldn’t even call it a success story... not that it’s not, but... no one gets down to the nitty-gritty of the aftermath.” (Ashley, [45:33])

7. Advice and Advocacy for Expectant/Birth Mothers

• Take Your Time & Seek Support:
  • Ashley deeply wishes she’d felt less rushed, sought more outside support, and been more vocal about her true feelings. [47:08]
  • She encourages anyone facing the same situation to be informed, have a real support system, and be 100% at peace before deciding:

    “Make sure you have thought out every single option... all the facts... and that you are 100 at peace and comfortable.” (Ashley, [52:06])

• Trust Your Intuition:
  • Tyler stresses honoring maternal intuition and not silencing that inner voice out of logic or societal expectation. [54:19]
• Normalize Regret and Ongoing Grief:
  • They agree that it’s possible to feel both regrets and gratitude for the child’s well-being in their new family.

8. Hopes for the Future

• Ashley’s Dream:
  • Ashley hopes to remain deeply connected to her daughter and her son, ideally creating more space and opportunity for her daughter to spend time with her as she grows up.

    “I want to create a space for her... work super hard, get a bigger place and have, like, a place for her that she can come over... and just be with us if she wants to.” (Ashley, [59:43])

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On film deadlines and decision pressure:

  “I think it did impact my decision in the aspect of, like, a deadline... I felt, like, a little rushed.”

  • Ashley, [04:50]

• On kinship adoption challenges:

  “As I’ve gotten older, I’ve started to realize that it is so difficult in its own way... we never went through talking about boundaries or counselling... it was really hard to kind of respect those boundaries.”

  • Ashley, [11:11]

• On post-placement grief:

  “I ended up, like, being, like, so distraught... I wanted to die... I was so depressed.”

  • Ashley, [13:40]

  “For me being a birth mom, I feel like it is like a pain and a sorrow that I will carry with me until the day that I die. I don’t think it ever goes away.”

  • Catelynn, [30:17]

• On support needs:

  “Nobody knows how to support birth moms unless they’ve done it themselves or went through it themselves.”

  • Catelynn, [41:09]

• On advice to expectant mothers:

  “Know the facts. Make sure you have a support system... Make sure you are 100 at peace.”

  • Ashley, [52:06]

  “Trust your intuition. Do not silence that intuitive feeling that you have...it’s a parental intuition.”

  • Tyler, [54:19]

• On future hopes:

  “I want to create a space for her...where she can come over and just be with us if she wants to...I’m working hard for my son, but I’m also working for her too.”

  • Ashley, [59:43]

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Getting on the Show, Blogging to Flip Cams: [01:00 – 03:32]
• Contemplating Adoption, The Role of Deadlines: [03:50 – 04:50]
• Kinship Adoption Journey: [09:19 – 11:11]
• Boundaries and Counseling Challenges: [11:11 – 11:55]
• Taking Her Daughter Back & Second Thoughts: [15:59 – 18:28]
• Impact on Mental Health & Grief: [13:40, 30:17, 39:22]
• Relationship with Daughter Now: [22:18 – 23:38]
• Full Sibling Dynamics: [24:41 – 25:49]
• Society & Regret: [29:10 – 30:17, 45:33]
• Advice to Expectant Mothers: [51:55 – 56:11]
• Hopes for Future Openness: [59:43 – 61:30]

Final Thoughts

This episode offers a rare, in-depth look at the ongoing realities for birth parents, especially in kinship adoption settings, and resists oversimplifying the mixture of love, loss, regret, and hope they live with. Ashley’s honesty, paired with Catelynn and Tyler’s empathy and advocacy, makes this conversation a valuable resource for anyone affected by adoption, considering it, or seeking to support birth parents with compassion and knowledge.

Where to find Ashley: Instagram & TikTok @AshleySalazar
Where to find the hosts: Cate & Ty: Break It Down (PodcastOne)

For anyone seeking support in adoption or post-adoption mental health, professional counseling, support groups, and peer communities are recommended – especially those facilitated by people with lived experience.