Jenelle Evans's Son Ran Away From Home More Than Once — Why He Did It and What Will Happen

The Gist:

• Former Teen Mom star Jenelle Evans's son Jace ran away from home in August 2023.
• He was found and returned safely home after a short time. A statement from Jenelle says the teen ran off when he became angry that his parents took his phone away after he got in trouble at school.
• Jenelle's mom Barb — who once had custody of Jace — claimed Jenelle took him out of therapy and stopped giving him his ADHD meds, but Jenelle denies those claims.
• Jace reportedly ran away again in November 2023 and is reportedly being placed in foster care.

It seems like it was only yesterday when we were introduced to the second generation of cast members on MTV’s long-lived reality series Teen Mom 2. Since then, three out of four teen moms have left the show. Leah Messer is still associated with the franchise, but Kailyn Lowry, Chelsea Houska, and Jenelle Evans have all moved on.

Kailyn has taken on a career as a podcast host while Chelsea started a home design business with her husband, Cole. They’ve managed to avoid the tabloids since they stepped away from the series. Jenelle, on the other hand, is still making headlines.

In August 2023, Jenelle’s eldest son, Jace, ran away from home. He returned home safely shortly after, but his stunt sparked speculation about the former teen mom’s parenting.

In mid-August 2023, it was confirmed that Jenelle’s son, Jace, 14, had gone missing. Luckily, it didn’t take long to find him.

Jenelle shared the good news with fans via a statement to TMZ: "Jace has been found and is safely at home with Jenelle and his family, thank you to the Brunswick Co. Sheriff's Department and to everyone else for their concerns.'"

"As a boy mom, kids can act up and rebel as I'm sure the majority of us all once did as kids too,” Jenelle’s statement continued.

The reality TV star also shed some light on why her son ran away in the first place. According to Jenelle, she took away Jace’s phone after he got in trouble at school.

“That's when he decided to run off,” Jenelle explained, adding, “Jace is a good kid and we're not dealing with anything that most families don't deal with while raising children.”

Not long before Jace’s disappearance, Jenelle and her husband, David Eason, aired out some of their marital issues on social media. However, Jenelle maintained that Jace’s behavior had nothing to do with their home life.

(Jenelle shares daughter Ensley with David, while she welcomed Jace and her other son Kaiser with Andrew Lewis and Nathan Griffith, respectively.)

Jenelle continued: “This has absolutely nothing to do with my situation with David, we do not argue in front of our children or fight in front of our kids. This is a teenage boy being a teenager mad that we decided to take his phone away."

News that Jace had run away from home came only a few months after Jenelle and her mom Barbara's years-long battle for custody of Jace finally came to an end.

After Jace was reported as a runaway in August 2023, he ran away from home yet again in September. On Oct. 2, 2023, The Ashley’s Reality Roundup reported that a police report regarding Jace's runaway case indicated Jenelle's mother Barbara claimed Jace told her that he was assaulted by David, which then led to the teen running away from home in September.

David took to Instagram to address and deny those claims.

“It takes a sick person to spread lies on the internet about a child!" he wrote on Oct. 3, 2023, along with a photo of himself and Jenelle with their kids. "Then the rest of you are sick for chiming in like you know something because you read their lies. You people really need help! Our kids are in our custody and anything you read is not true!”

The following day, David posted a handful of other photos on Instagram, some with just himself and Jace, and others with Jenelle's other son, Kaiser. Under those, he wrote, "Nobody understands our relationship and that's fine because they don't need to!"

If you thought the beef between Tupac and Biggie was bad, you must not know about Jenelle and Barb. Back when Jace was first born, Jenelle was struggling with drug addiction. As a result, her mom took custody of her son — marking the beginning of their ongoing feud.

Jenelle revealed that Barb had surrendered custody of Jace in May 2023 and they seemed like one big happy family. But, amid Jace's disappearance, Barb claimed that Jenelle had taken Jace off the ADHD meds prescribed by his doctor.

Additionally, Jenelle’s mom alleged that Jace had been taken out of behavioral therapy, which could be why he was acting out. Later, Jenelle denied her claims.

"Barbara has not been in contact with Jace since Monday. I have cut off contact with her as of three weeks ago,” she told TMZ. on Aug. 17, 2023. “Barbara doesn't have any idea what is going on inside my home.”

Despite what Jenelle said, Jace went back to stay with Barbara sometime after he accused David of harming him. And while we were hopeful Jace wouldn't make any more attempts at fleeing his residence, he ran away (again) from his grandmother's home in November 2023. But, unlike the previous times, Jace is now in quite the predicament.

Instead of being returned home as he was in the past, the teen was reportedly hospitalized and placed in the custody of Child Protective Services, which will put him in foster care, Daily Mail reports. The source also noted that should Jace get into any more trouble, he could be placed in a juvenile detention facility.