Jenelle Evans‘ estranged sister Ashleigh has been quite outspoken regarding the custody battle currently happening between Jenelle and their mom Barbara for Jenelle’s teenage son Jace. This week, Ashleigh posted a TikTok video in which she answered questions regarding the fight for custody, as well as where Jace’s father, Andrew Lewis, stands in all of the hubbub.
Ashleigh also gave her thoughts on Jenelle reuniting with her ex-husband David Eason, and how Barbara is fairing in her seemingly never-ending fight against Jenelle.
On Andrew Lewis’ involvement in Jace’s life & care:
As The Ashley has reported, Andrew is very active in Jace’s life now and has been living in North Carolina since last year. Ashleigh talked about how she feels Andrew has stepped as a parent for Jace.
“One of the biggest things that people have been trying to message me about is Jace’s father Andrew. Now, Andrew directly asked me not to speak about details and I’m not going to,” Ashleigh said…before speaking about the details.
“I will say that I am very proud and I encouraged him to kind of step up more for Jace because my sister’s not able to do that, or she just refuses to be a parent at this point,” she said.
Later in the video, Ashleigh spoke more about Andrew’s role in the situation with Jace. (When Barbara filed for custody of Jace last week, Andrew was named in the filing and is required to appear at the upcoming hearing.)
“…I’m very happy that Andrew did move closer to Jace,” she said. “He’s been trying as hard as he can. He’s paid child support and got medical insurance for [Jace]. Jenelle has refused to even get medical insurance [for Jace] for the help that he needs. She is demanding that Andrew and my mom pay for Jace’s medical treatment, which is ridiculous. She’s the parent— she apparently has custody or whatever— and there’s just so many legalities going on and she doesn’t even want to step up and be a mom.”
(According to court documents obtained by The Ashley, Andrew has been paying $400 in child support to Barbara, since at least December. While Andrew had been paying Barbara when Jace was living with her previously, his payments likely started going to Jenelle once Jace began living with her. Once Jace moved back to Barb’s last year, Andrew began paying Barbara again.)
Ashleigh also revealed that Andrew’s family members have also stepped up for Jace.
“I know others have been questioning about Andrew,” she said. “Look, Andrew has a great family. Jace has his other side of the family from his dad. They’re all supporting him and want to try to do be there for him. But it’s Jenelle that’s making that extremely difficult. She’s so bitter. She can’t just say, ‘OK, go live with your dad for a little while until you figure out what you want to do. You’re almost 18.’ Or, ‘go live with [Barbara] and get back on your meds. Let’s figure out a plan.’
“She doesn’t want to do that and, unfortunately, people who have mental illness, they’re unstable. They’re not thinking correctly, they’re not making the right choices.
Ashleigh mentioned that Jace had been going through some hard times before the incident in February but that Barbara and Andrew “have got it situated.”
On Barbara being denied emergency custody of Jace before filing for custody:
“The situation with emergency custody, I feel that it’s concerning,” Ashleigh— who is close to Barbara despite not speaking to Jenelle— stated. “I offered to come and do witness testimony against my sister. I think my mom is worried that if I do testify against my sister Jenelle, then my sister Jenelle is going to go after me, and my mom doesn’t want that for me. Or Jenelle may go after me and my two boys, Atlas and Gabriel, because she’s that evil. She’s evil.
“She’s got a lot of problems,” Ashleigh continued. “She’s got serious substance and mental health disorders that she’s not addressing for many years, and it’s just a repeated pattern. I’ve mentioned before that she’s always been in, like, a manic state. She’s not on medication and she’s very unstable.”
Ashleigh said that she believes Jenelle will “go after” her if she testifies at the court hearing on Jace’s behalf for her mom.
“I do feel like it’s mom mom’s and Andrew’s fight right now,” she added.
Ashleigh then addressed Barb’s bid for emergency custody of Jace being denied, stating that it’s “not uncommon” for a judge to deny emergency custody.
“I judge needed more evidence,” she said. “Jace is in a mental health facility, and that’s another reason why the judge denied it. I don’t think people understand that.”
Ashleigh then explained that Jace is still on probation, and that Barb has “guardianship of Jace to live with her [for] the remainder of his probation in North Carolina.”
On her feelings that Jenelle “played” Barbara to regain custody of Jace:
Ashleigh spoke about when Barbara signed custody of Jace back over to Jenelle a few years ago, adding that she had warned Barb not to trust Jenelle.
“[I told her], ‘She’s playing you,’ and that’s just what she did. She basically manipulated and played my mom,” Ashleigh said. “My mom thought [Jenelle] was doing great and she was not. She was just playing games behind the scenes and things erupted where Jace got put in CPS custody. He got sent to the mental health custody where I worked at, and Jenelle tried to have me fired at the hospital where I worked at.
“…Jace has been trying so hard to get away from Jenelle,” Ashleigh claimed, adding that Jenelle’s family had tried in the past to be supportive to her.
“But Jenelle refuses to be a mom and she refuses to step up,” she said.
“She just reconciled with David. That was a very poor judgment call,” Ashleigh added.
“When my mom told me about [Jenelle and David reuniting] and I seen this, I was just really concerned,” she added. “Not only about my mom, but Jace.”
7 Responses
Imo, the moment Jenelle realized a baby wouldn’t trap Andrew she wanted to discard Jace.
As much as none of this needed to be made public, it is refreshing to learn that Andrew stepped up to get health insurance for Jace. Hopefully, the judge will strip Jenelle of her decision-making power so that Jace can get back on his medication and live a peaceful life without Jenelle’s interference.
I wish they would stop publicly speaking about Jace and his mental issues. He didn’t ask for any of this shit and it’s all being played out for the world to see. That’s got to be even harder on Jace’s mental health. Another shifty outlet that I won’t name released the 911 call and that absolutely infuriates me. I appreciate the Ashley always taking Jace into account. Some of these other outlets don’t care a bit about Jace and his well being and they just blast it all.
I will never understand why the courts never stepped in not only to protect Jace but to protect Janelle’s other kids. I was pissed when Barb gave custody back to Jenelle because I knew this is what would happen and he would end up back with Barb anyway. Only now Barb has to get Jenelle’s permission to act in Jace’s best interests. Jenelle will never give legal custody to Barb out of pure spite. I truly do hope that Andrew has a solid family and they are surrounding Jace with as much love and support as they can. He needs that. I have always had a soft spot in my heart for Jace and I always will. It’s really sad though when perfect strangers are more concerned for Jace’s well being than his own so called “mother”.
I was glad they released the 911 call, it exposes Ashleigh for the liar she is.
Okay JENELLE POS
I would absolutely lie to anyone to know expose that information about my child or any child I cared about. I don’t think it discredits her at all.
*NOT