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Jenelle Evans was awarded custody of her son Jace, 13, after giving her parental rights over to her mom, Barbara Evans, over a decade ago. The Teen Mom 2 alum, 28, and her then-boyfriend Andrew Lewis made Barbara the legal guardian of Jace shortly after welcoming him back in 2009. On Saturday, March 18, Janelle took to her Instagram to share an emotional video of her signing the paperwork to become Jace’s official caretaker again.
“#MyHappyEnding, ITS OFFICIAL! Thanks everyone for the support!” she wrote alongside the heartwarming clip. “Words can’t descibe how happy i truly am. Our family is complete now! Thank you mom. ❤️?” Janelle also added text to the video, giving an update on how Barbara is handling the life-changing decision. “She’s completely fine, she’s like ‘I’m ready to have my freedom.’
And to prove she and Barbara were truly on their way to a reconciliation after a bitter, years-long battle over Jace, Janelle added that the family has a little vacation in the works! “I’m ready to go on a cruise and her and her friend have a cruise already planned,” she added of her mom.
At the end of the video, Janelle was seen sitting in her car as the emotions swept over her with tears running down her face. She held up the signed documents to the camera and captioned it, “It’s done, it’ done.”
In a statement, Janelle offered more details about how she and Barbara finally came to the agreement. “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,” she said, per US Weekly.
“Also, my mother agrees it’s time for Jace to be back with his siblings and living with a mother and father,” Jenelle continued, referring to Jace moving in with her, her husband David Eason and their daughter Ensley, 6, as well as Jenelle’s son Kaiser, 8, whom she shares with ex Nathan Griffith.
“[Barbara] also thinks it’s important for Jace to be around a father figure to learn ‘boy things’ and have ‘men talk’,” Janelle said, adding that Barbara has “seen the way” David “parents” and “knows we’re able to handle it.”
It certainly had been a long, emotional custody battle for the reality star. Just last October, Jenelle fired back at a troll who said Jace was “meant to be with Barbara” in a message online. “Comments like this is exactly why I don’t want to share my life anymore,” explained Janelle, who was fired from Teen Mom 2 in 2019 after David shot and killed the family dog after it bit their daughter in the face. Around the time of the animal-killing incident, Jenelle had temporarily lost custody of Kaiser and Ensley. In July 2019, she announced she had regained custody of them.
Shortly after online troll attack, Jenelle told fans that there was still an ongoing “court battle” between her and her family. “There’s a lot of personal stuff that’s been going on with my family lately, where actually Jace should be living with me,” Jenelle divulged through tears in an Instagram Story.
She went on to say that she still had a hard time watching scenes from the show featuring Barbara. “Someone took my baby, didn’t let me get a chance to raise my baby, and then kicks me out, takes my baby, because she was jealous of the guy I was dating at the time,” Jenelle added of Barbara. “Let’s look at the real reason why I was even kicked out and came home, and all my stuff was outside in the middle of the yard.” She concluded, “Me as a parent, I would never do that to my kids.”
A few months have definitely made a lasting change in Jenelle and Barbara’s relationship! Congratulations to the mother/daughter duo for working it out!
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