‘Teen Mom’ Star Jenelle Evans Opens Up About Son Jace’s Mental Health After Second Runaway Incident

Jenelle Evans is addressing her son Jace's mental health after the teen ran away for the second time within two weeks.

On Wednesday, the Teen Mom 2 star took to social media to speak further about the incident.

"A lot of my son's actions is being pinned against me, and I'm getting a lot of hate, a lot of comments," the former reality TV star said in a TikTok video. "It just keeps going and going and going." 

"My son has been having a hard time for the past two, three years," Evans continued. "None of this has gone public because we're trying to keep his privacy. Me and my mom, when she gave me custody, she's like, 'Oh we're just getting along, I'm just gonna give Jenelle back [custody].' Well, there was a big reason behind why I got him back." 

While Evans didn't further explain the reason as a way to protect her son's privacy, she did encourage parents to keep a close eye on their children.

"I will say one thing, monitor your kids' phones," she said. "If they're teenagers, and they have apps, they're on Snapchat ... Snapchat is a bad one ... because I monitor my kid's phone, and sometimes they get in trouble, and sometimes they get it taken away for the consequences for their actions. Sometimes they don't take that too lightly ... it's kind of like an addiction to them because they're so attached to it."

Evans concluded her video by reassuring her fans that Jace is "fine."

"He's healthy, and he's safe," she said. "Due to my son's mental health, none of this is going to be shared, and I don't really want to go into detail with anything. So if you can kindly give us the privacy, give my son the privacy, right now, I'd appreciate it."

On Aug. 15, Evans reported Jace missing, but the 14-year-old had been found safe hours after deputies from North Carolina's Brunswick County Sheriff's Office started searching for the "runaway juvenile."

Evans also confirmed she had been reunited with her son after he was last seen leaving his school in the city of Leland around 2:45 p.m. local time.

"Jace has been found, and is safely at home with Jenelle and his family," her manager said in a statement to Us Weekly. "Thank you to the Brunswick Co. Sheriff's Department and to everyone else for their concerns."

Before Jace was located, the TV star told the outlet that her son had previously gotten in trouble and had his phone taken away.

"As a boy mom, kids can act up and rebel as I'm sure the majority of us all once did as kids too," she said in the initial statement. "Jace got in trouble at school, we decided to take his phone away and that's when he decided to run off. Jace is a good kid and we're not dealing with anything that most families don't deal with while raising children."