It has been a bad week for former Teen Mom star Jenelle Evans and her husband David Eason. Jenelle’s oldest son, 14-year-old Jace, ran away from home for the third time since August. This latest incident led to much more trouble than the previous ones, because this time, Jenelle and David are being investigated by CPS for child neglect.
Jenelle insists that Jace keeps running away because of typical teenage things like getting in trouble at school, but it seems like there may be more to the story, especially since she only gained custody of him earlier this year.
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Jenelle and David are being investigated by CPS because of Jace's repeated attempts to run away.
Law enforcement told TMZ that Jace claimed David had physically assaulted him, which is why he ran away. The teen had visible bruises on his arms and neck. Child Protective Services have reportedly obtained Ring camera footage of an altercation involving Jace at someone else’s home.
A source told The U.S. Sun earlier this week, "Jace is not at home and is currently in the custody of CPS, who are investigating."
Barbara Evans is backing up Jace's claims of assault by David.
According to a police incident report obtained by The Ashley's Reality Roundup, authorities showed up at the home of Jenelle's mom, Barbara Evans, to look for Jace. Jenelle had told police she believed her son was with his grandmother. Jace wasn’t there, but Barbara did tell the police that she had spoken to Jace that day and he was claiming David had assaulted him.
"She advised that she had spoken to [Jace] earlier in the evening when he called from an unknown number and told her about being assaulted by David Eason and that he ran away and was hiding …" the report read.
It also stated that Jace asked Barbara to pick him up, but because of "ongoing legal and custody issues," she couldn’t. If she had, Jenelle could sue her for kidnapping because Barb no longer has custody of Jace.
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It seems like Jace is genuinely afraid of David.
The U.S. Sun claimed that multiple sources shared with them that Jace told the authorities that he will run away again if placed in Jenelle and David's care.
"One of the big concerns is that if he runs he's also in the middle of nowhere by himself on foot, it's dangerous out there," an insider told the outlet. "It's not a threat anyone is taking lightly."
David is trying to paint a different picture of his relationship with Jace.
David took to Instagram to share photos of himself and Jace having outdoor fun together to try to prove the public wrong. In the pictures, they’re fishing, playing basketball, and even barbecuing together.
"Nobody understands our relationship and that's fine because they don't need to!" he wrote.
Of course, Jenelle has taken to social media to 'clarify' things for her followers.
"This isn’t about David whether you want to blame him or not," she tweeted earlier this week. "My mom says a lot of untrue things lately to everyone about me but wanted me to have custody? Imagine what you don’t hear from my side."
She also claimed that Barbara is "using police to falsely report just trying to make us look bad as a family."
Jenelle didn't deny the accusations against her husband.
When someone said that they were choosing to believe Barbara and Jace over Jenelle or David, she had a quick response: "Well my husband is still a free man, so … I def don’t need your approval."
Hopefully this situation will resolve quickly and Jace will stay safe.
If you suspect child abuse, you can call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-422-4453 (1-800-4-A-Child), or go to Childhelp.org. The hotline is available 24/7.
