What can Catelynn Lowell and Tyler Baltierra’s adoption story teach us about parental rights—and something deeper: are we actually entitled to our children?

This episode uses their story as a starting point to break down how parental rights really work in family court, from adoption to 50/50 custody and high-conflict co-parenting. We also look at states like Kentucky, where a statutory presumption of 50/50 parenting is reshaping custody—and debate whether it protects children or creates new risks.

We walk through different forms of entitlement to children, including:

• Legal entitlement → parental rights, the 14th Amendment, and how family court defines custody
• Adoption and power dynamics → what it means to waive parental rights at a young age—and the long-term impact
• Systemic entitlement → 50/50 custody presumptions, how states like Kentucky are changing the landscape, and what that means for marriage, divorce, and child safety
• “My time” entitlement → how parenting time gets framed as ownership instead of responsibility
• Financial entitlement → how custody and child support become intertwined in real life
• Emotional entitlement → the expectation that children must comply, regardless of safety or comfort

We unpack how these play out in real cases—and why the line between parental rights and entitlement isn’t as clear as it should be.

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