Earlier this week, news broke that Jenelle Evans had decided to send her 16-year-old son Jace to live with his father, Andrew Lewis. Considering that Andrew hasn’t been around for most of Jace’s life, fans were confused at the choice. But now, the former Teen Mom star is opening up about what made her send him to Florida with a one-way ticket – and apparently, it only has a little to do with his recent runs away from home.
Jace moved to Florida on Friday.
On Monday, a source close to the situation told The Sun that Jace had flown solo to meet his dad in Florida on Friday.
“Jenelle put Jace on a plane on Friday and he has been with Andrew since,” the source said. “It’s the summertime, and as of now, it’s a temporary situation, so Jace doesn’t need to be enrolled in school at the moment. The timing worked out that he doesn’t have to start a new school immediately. But Andrew has begun the process of looking into where Jace may possibly enroll.”
A source claims that Jenelle has done ‘the best she could.’
The insider went on to say that Jenelle has been doing her best to handle everything Jace is going through – which has included multiple calls to 911 for behavior Jenelle described as destructive – while also trying to keep younger kids Kaiser and Ensley safe.
“She’s been asking for help with things happening with Jace and she has done what she could to walk through them,” the insider said.
The source added that Jace will reportedly visit his mom in June, and at that point, they’ll decide if he’s staying or going back to Florida on a more permanent basis.
Jenelle defended the decision in a video she shared on YouTube.
According to Jenelle, she’s gotten a lot of backlash for the choice to send Jace to Florida, and now, she wants to set the record straight. Apparently, she and her family have been dealing with a lot more challenges with Jace behind the scenes than anyone was aware of.
She revealed that Jace has received diagnoses for “mental health disorders” starting at age 10 when he was diagnosed with ADHD, and later, major depressive disorder and “defiant disorder ODD.”
“Incidents started occurring with my son when he was 10 years old. My whole family knew this. It was a family secret. We tried to keep the privacy of my son,” she shared in the video. “A lot of people are like, ‘He’s been running away from your home as soon as he got there’ and that’s not the case either. He’s been doing this since he’s been 10. I got custody because my mother couldn’t handle it anymore. Because she was in a bad, dangerous situation herself.”
It sounds like this was a last resort for her.
Jenelle said that after Jace “acted out at every single household he went to,” she was running out of options.
“So, yeah, I called his dad. I said, ‘Hey, I need help.’ I was in a panic attack. I was crying my eyes out,” she said in the video. “We’ve tried everything we could. I’ve tried getting placement in boys’ homes but they are just too expensive and insurance won’t cover it.”
Sending Jace to live with Andrew will allow her to keep all of her children safe, even if they have to live apart.
“So, really, you guys are looking at it as a negative situation, but everyone behind closed doors is looking at it as a positive thing for him,” she continued. “Being a mother is doing in best interest for your child. And I am doing the best interest for my child.”
