Happy tears. Jenelle Evans was emotional as mom Barbara Evans returned custody of son Jace, 13, to the Teen Mom 2 star.
“#MyHappyEnding, ITS OFFICIAL!” Jenelle, 31, captioned a video via Instagram on Sunday, March 19. The clip showed her signing custody papers and crying in the car after the paperwork was done.
The MTV personality spoke about mom Barbara’s decision to return custody in the video. The grandma had been Jace’s legal guardian since he was an infant. “She’s completely fine. She’s like, ‘I’m ready to have my freedom. I’m ready to go on a cruise.’ And her and her friend have a cruise already planned,” Jenelle said as she signed the papers.
In another clip, she sobbed in the car and said, “It’s done. It’s done.”
The Read Between the Lines author added in the caption, “Thanks everyone for the support! Words cant describe how happy i truly am. Our family is complete now! Thank you mom. ❤️😭.”
Us Weekly exclusively confirmed on Saturday, March 18, that Jenelle received custody of her son, who she shares with ex Andrew Lewis. Jace will live with Jenelle and husband David Eason and their children, son Kaiser, 8, whom Jenelle shares with ex Nathan Griffith, and daughter Ensley, 6.
“My mom and I decided together to grant full custody back to me because we want to build our relationship back as mother and daughter,” the reality star exclusively told Us in a statement. “Also, my mother agrees it’s time for Jace to be back with his siblings and living with a mother and father. She also thinks it’s important for Jace to be around a father figure to learn ‘boy things’ and have ‘men talk.’”
She continued: “She has seen the way David parents my children and she knows we’re able to handle it. We want to all get along for the sake of the children and like I said before, building back our relationship as mother and daughter. We have officially signed the papers on Thursday, March 16th at the courthouse, it’s a done deal!”
Custody of Jace had long been a point of contention between Barbara and Jenelle. In 2017, Jenelle didn’t invite her mother to her wedding due to the situation.
“I can’t forgive someone that’s just not going to give me back my son, so, and it’s still going on. It hasn’t been resolved,” Jenelle explained to Us at the time. “And if I had custody of him now maybe I would have invited her, but I’m not at the moment.”
The relationship hit a turning point amid the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. When Jace started acting out at school, the family determined that more time with his mother and siblings would be beneficial.
