Five Couples Vie for Chance to Adopt Baby Boy

April 26 -- In a unique television event, Barbara Walters documents a young birth mother's journey as she selects who, among five anxious couples vying for a child of their own, will become parents to her child.

The 20/20 special: Be My Baby airs this Friday, April 30 at 10 p.m. ET.

"I was basically deciding if they're going to have children or not. I was kind of playing God," says Jessica, 16, about her heartwrenching choice of who would adopt and raise her unborn baby boy while allowing her to continue to play a part in his life.

20/20 cameras are there as each couple tries to convince the pregnant girl that they would be the best parents for her soon-to-be-born baby. But after all of the heartache, will the 8½-month pregnant high school sophomore really be ready to sign away her legal rights once the baby is born and she can hold him in her arms?

Jessica, who dreams of becoming a nurse one day, says she wants to keep the baby, but her mother and stepfather believe it would be too hard on the family. Jessica reluctantly agrees, as long as it is an open adoption, allowing her and her entire family to be a part of the baby's life. So with the guidance of "A Child's Waiting" adoption agency, Jessica and her mother select five families to interview and they become the judge and jury in an extraordinary competition. "You don't want to goof anything like this up — it's too important. It involves a baby's life," says Beth Anne, Jessica's mom.

20/20 cameras were there last October when the competition for Jessica's baby began as the five families arrived at the agency one by one. Each couple would try to convince Jessica that they should be the parents of her unborn son.

Karen and Tab Brown, mortgage broker and sales executive The Browns have been married for 10 years and have a son Trace, 8. They desperately want a brother for Trace. Their second child died shortly after his birth. They are Jessica's first choice on paper.