Jenelle Evans Says Son Jace Has Been Struggling for Years: ‘There’s a Big Reason Behind Why I Got’ Custody

Jenelle Evans is speaking out in the wake of her eldest son, Jace’s, recent struggles. The Teen Mom 2 alum took to TikTok to respond after several people have been critical of her social media posts and travel plans while it has been widely reported that Jace has run away from home several times in the past two weeks. 

“A lot of my son’s actions is being pinned against me and I’m getting a lot of hate, a lot of comments,” the 31-year-old former reality TV star shared. “It just keeps going and going and going.” 

In March, custody of now-14-year-old Jace was returned to Jenelle after years of Jace living with Jenelle’s mother, Barbara Evans. 

“My son has been having a hard time for the past two, three years,” Jenelle continued in her video on Wednesday. “None of this has gone public because we’re trying to keep his privacy. Me and my mom, when she gave me custody, she’s like, ‘Oh we’re just getting along, I’m just gonna give Jenelle back [custody],’ well, there was a big reason behind why I got him back.” 

Jenelle noted that she does not plan to go into the alleged “big reason” for the sake of Jace’s privacy. 

“I will say one thing, monitor your kids’ phones,” Jenelle encouraged other parents, saying the Snapchat was a “bad” app for teens. She added that Jace has gotten “really mad” after having his phone taken away, comparing his attachment to the device to an “addiction.” 

“My son is fine. He’s healthy and he’s safe,” she continued. “Due to my son’s mental health, none of this is going to be shared and I don’t really want to go into detail with anything. So if you can kindly give us the privacy, give my son the privacy, right now, I’d appreciate it.”

Earlier this month, it was reported that Jace ran away from his North Carolina home that he shares with Jenelle and her husband, David Eason. He was later located. At the time, Jenelle released a statement to ET about the incident via her manager saying, “As a boy mom, kids can act up and rebel as I’m sure the majority of us all once did as kids too. Jace got in trouble at school, we decided to take his phone away, and that’s when he decided to run off.”

The statement continued, “Jace is a good kid and we’re not dealing with anything that most families don’t deal with while raising children. This has absolutely nothing to do with my situation with David [Eason]. We do not argue in front of our children or fight in front of our kids. This is a teenage boy being a teenager who’s mad that we decided to take his phone away.” 

But less than two weeks later, Jace once again was reported to have gone missing from home, per TMZ. He was once again located by police. 

In addition to Jace, Jenelle is also mom to 9-year-old son Kaiser with her ex, Nathan Griffith, as well as 6-year-old daughter Ensley with David. 

After first appearing on MTV’s 16 and Pregnant in 2010, Jenelle went on to star on Teen Mom 2 before being fired from the show in 2019 following a string of incidents with David. 

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