Jenelle Evans has been fighting for years to regain custody of her oldest son, Jace, and her fate has finally been decided.
The Teen Mom 2 star and her mom, Barbara Evans, faced off in a North Carolina courtroom today, where a judge determined whether the 7-year-old will stay in Barbara’s care or move in with his mom, siblings, and future step-dad, David Eason, full-time.
So, what’s the verdict?!
Before we get to all that, it’s important to rehash exactly how we got here.
Barbara has been her grandson’s legal guardian since Jenelle signed over temporary custody when he was a baby. At the time, Jenelle was using drugs, getting arrested, in unstable relationships, and just generally not in a position to be raising a child.
Credit: Horry County Sheriff’s Office
Since 2013, the reality star has been sober and stable and trying to regain custody of her son, but insists the Myrtle Beach court system — and her mom — are to blame for her continued battle to bring him home.
Things really took a turn for the mother/daughter duo on the most recent Season 7B of Teen Mom 2, when Jenelle accused her mom of keeping Jace merely for camera-time, and later even refused to film with her!
Credit: MTV The Read Between the Lines author has grown increasingly upset over the years that she only gets Jace on weekends, and even has shown proof that her mom sometimes keeps her son from her for no reason. Frustrating, no?
Though they had set hearing dates numerous time over the course of those four years, as of 2016, Jenelle claimed, for one reason or another, they kept getting postponed and she had never even set foot in a courtroom nor spoken to a judge.
Credit: Snapchat
That all changed today, May 24, when the 25-year-old and her legal team finally got their day in court and presented her case to the state at mediation, rather than a trial.
So, did the prayers Jenelle’s Twitter followers sent her way actually work?
The bad news is Jenelle did not regain full custody of her son, The Ashley reports.
However, she will get be getting more time with him. Apparently Barb offered to share custody with her daughter, and they are working on putting a more formalized schedule in place.
The new agreement will also ensure Babs cannot keep Jace from Jenelle for weeks on end, as she has done numerous times, according to Jenelle.
The silver lining here? Insiders say this arrangement is not set in stone, and JE can go for full custody again in the future.
Reports insist the MTV cameras were around to capture this momentous moment, so we’ll get to see it all play out on Teen Mom 2 Season 8.
Though the crew wasn’t allowed inside the courtroom, they waited outside to get immediate reactions from both Jenelle and Barbara — and we’re anticipating tears of both the sad and happy varieties.
Credit: MTV
Stay tuned to IPRESSTV for more on this developing story!
Are you happy with the way things turned out for the Evans family? Do you think this is the end of it or will they return to court again? Share below.
Teen Mom 2 premieres later this year on MTV.
