With the world living in the age of reality television, it really shouldn’t come as a surprise that there is a show on MTV called “Teen Mom 2”. The show is exactly what it sounds like, and follows the lives of teen mothers dealing with pregnancy and motherhood. It also deals with the stress surround child custody cases, and in some cases, child dependency cases.
Today, one of the young women featured on the MTV program was making headlines for all the wrong reasons. Last night, Jenelle Evans, was arrested for violating a domestic violence protective order. This is the second time Evans has been arrested in the past 6 days, and has been charged for various offenses no fewer than five times since August, including various drug possession charges and testing positive for marijuna.
Should the father of her child choose to seek custody of her baby, all of these arrests can be used against her in court. And if the State decides that both parents are a detriment to the health and safety of the child, a dependency hearing can be set and the child can be placed in foster care.
The main question in any child dependency case or child custody case is where was the child during the various criminal offenses? If the child was present while illegal activity was taking place, that will be severely detrimental to the parent’s case. While being found guilty of any illegal activity is a negative in a custody or dependency hearing, if the activity occurs away from the child, it carries less weight.
MTV’s reality show has been a lightning rod for controversy, as some critics say it glorifies teen pregnancy. Producers of the show say it has the opposite effect, showing the trials and tribulations of teen motherhood.
