Jenelle Evans is known for a lot of things.
She’s known for getting arrested practically a billion times, and for her love of drugs and her willingness to throw down at literally any opportunity.
But no one would know anything about any of that if she hadn’t gotten pregnant at the tender age of 16.
Back then, she gave birth to a little boy she named Jace, and after struggling for a few months, she officially signed over custody to her mother, Barbara.
Barbara cared for Jace while Jenelle ran off to party with her friends, and when she bounced around from terrible dude to terrible dude.
When she was off getting high with her boyfriends, Barbara stepped up, and now, nearly eight years later, Jace seems to be doing well.
And so it just makes sense that Jenelle would try to rip the poor kid away from the only parental figure he’s ever known to drag him off to live with her.
For the past few years, Jenelle has been talking about getting Jace back — though sometimes it seems like she wants custody of him just to hurt her mother.
But, believe it or not (just kidding, you’ll definitely believe it), this is the first time in years that she doesn’t have any pending charges against her.
So it’s high time to get that kid, right?!
After months of continuations, today was finally the big day: the day Jenelle and Barbara would go to court and a judge would offer a final ruling on the custody of poor Jace.
And it sounds like it was a roller coaster of a day.
First of all, Jenelle did not get custody. And thank goodness for that.
According to a report from The Ashley’s Reality Roundup, Jenelle and Barb had mediation instead of the actual trial, and they were able to work out a new plan for Jace.
Barb, out of the kindness of her heart, was willing to share custody, and right now that means that they’ll set up an official schedule for visitation.
This will undoubtedly be a relief for both of them, as they’ve both threatened to withhold Jace from the other in the past.
The plan is for everyone to try out this new plan for a while, and if it goes well, Jenelle will go back to court and attempt to get full custody.
And if this isn’t dramatic enough for you, know that MTV was filming before and after the official proceedings, and Jenelle was seen crying.
Look, there really isn’t any great solution with this.
It would be wonderful if Jace could live with his mother and his two younger siblings and have just the best life, but Jenelle still has quite a few hot mess tendencies about her.
Not to mention she lives with David Eason, who has legal troubles of his own — enough that he’s allegedly not even allowed to see his own son.
It’s all just a great big tragic mess, isn’t it?
