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Ranking the Teen Mom Dads: Who's the Worst?

From the absentees to the freeloaders

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The ladies of Teen Mom are obviously the stars of the MTV franchise, but there wouldn't be half the drama, or even a show, without the respective teen dads. While some of them won't be in the running for Dad of the Year for a long time -- if ever -- a few have been anything but deadbeats.

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So who's the worst and who's the best (comparatively)? Let's count them down:

10. Adam Lind
Teen Mom: Chelsea Houska

What's worse: being emotionally abusive or completely absent? The former is Lind, who sent this charming text to Houska after the birth of their daughter Aubree: "you fat stretch mark bitch...tell me where and when to sign the rights over for that mistake." Lind, who had a second daughter Paislee with ex-girlfriend Taylor Halbur, also has multiple arrests on DUI, speeding and driving without a license charges, and has done multiple stints in jail. Most recently, one ex alleged that he abused steroids, while another, Brooke Beaton, got a restraining order against Lind after he attacked her at a dirt bike racing event. Beaton also accused him of stalking, but has since dropped the charges.

9. Andrew Lewis
Teen Mom: Jenelle Evans

We'd comment on Lewis' parenting skills, except he is literally not around and hasn't been seen since 16 and Pregnant. The absentee dad even had the gall to tell Radar after Evans' arrest for heroin possession in 2013: "I wish I could [find] a better mother for Jace," he said. "From a father's point of view, hell yeah it bothers me. She's about dumber than a f---ing brick. It's common sense: heroin, it's stupid." Evans tweeted: "he owes $12,000+ in child support and yeah if he came here they would arrest him QUICK."

8. Nathan Griffith
Teen Mom: Jenelle Evans

Evans' mother Barbara, who has custody of her son Jace, had Griffith pegged from the beginning: a freeloading, jobless "control freak." Like Evans, he does not have custody of his daughter, Emery, whose mother, Griffith's ex-wife Allison, claims Griffith frequently cheated and has only paid $150 in child support. Evans and Griffith, who spent 30 days in jail after his third DUI arrest, had a son, Kaiser, in June, but the two are now mired in breakup rumors.

7. Ryan Edwards
Teen Mom: Maci Bookout

The good news: Edwards is in Bentley's life, and he and Bookout have, for the most part, a cordial friendship. The bad: He hasn't matured a bit since we first saw him on 16 and Pregnant in 2009. Six years later, he's still AWOL when it's time to pick up his son so much that even Bentley observes, "He's always late."

6. Jeremy Calvert
Teen Mom: Leah Messer

Calvert is good with Messer's twins Aliannah and Aleeah, and was there for her after she suffered a miscarriage in 2012. (They welcomed a daughter, Adalynn, in 2013.) But he's not exactly setting a great example by airing their dirty laundry and putting his wife on blast amid a cheating scandal.
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5. Corey Simms
Teen Mom: Leah Messer
Simms is very involved with not one, but two babies, twin daughters Aliannah and Aleeah. He would be higher if it weren't for the capitulation of his relationship with his ex Messer after Ali's muscular dystrophy diagnosis. Seemingly in denial about Ali's needs, he blamed Leah for not taking her to physical therapy, more or less refused to get Ali a wheelchair and then filed for primary custody after Leah confronted him. The two now have joint custody.
4. Jo Rivera
Teen Mom: Kailyn Lowry

Though Rivera and Lowry have had their share of problems (you know, like her cheating on him with Jordan Wenner and then cheating on Wenner with Rivera), they've learned to co-parent their son Isaac after struggling to live together at his parents' following Isaac's birth. But he loses points for requesting child support for his rap career.
3. Javi Marroquin
Teen Mom: Kailyn Lowry

Marroquin has embraced being a stepfather to Lowry's son Isaac since the beginning of their relationship -- to the point that Isaac sometimes calls him dad. (Rivera is cool with it.) Marroquin, who married Lowry in 2012 and welcomed their son Lincoln in 2013, got a tattoo of both his boys' names on his arm last year.
2. Gary Shirley
Teen Mom: Amber Portwood

Shirley, who's expecting a daughter with girlfriend Kristina Anderson, has always been a good dad to Leah while Portwood was spiraling with her various substance and legal issues. He really stepped up to the plate when he was awarded primary custody while Portwood served 17 months in prison. And you have to admire his entrepreneurship.
1. Tyler Baltierra
Teen Mom: Catelynn Lowell

Arguably the best parenting decision anyone has made on this franchise was when Baltierra and Lowell opted to give up Carly for adoption. The couple remains a presence in Carly's life and worked through their ups and downs -- including him calling off their 2013 nuptials -- before deciding they were ready to start a family. Their daughter Novalee was born Jan. 1, a week after Baltierra re-proposed, and it will all be documented on the upcoming Teen Mom OG.