‘Teen Mom’: Amber Portwood Gets a Win in Heated Custody Battle

Motherhood hasn’t always come easy to Teen Mom’s Amber Portwood. After having her first child Leah when she was just a teenager, Portwood and her ex Gary Shirley struggled to combine parenthood and young adulthood. They eventually split after Portwood was arrested and charged with felony domestic assault. Since then, Shirley has maintained primary custody of Leah, now 12. And Portwood has rebuilt her life after jail and rehab stints to become a better mother. She eventually welcomes her second child, a son named James, with her ex Andrew Glennon. But amid their split and another domestic incident, Glennon was awarded primary custody of James. Portwood refuses to give up the fight. 

The U.S. Sun can exclusively reports that the 31 MTV star now has greater access to James through phone calls and FaceTime chats after her no-contact order against Glennon has been lifted. James now lives thousands of miles away from the Indiana reality star in California with his father. Per the report, the judge’s ruling states that Portwood is now “entitled to liberal telephone calls and or FaceTime communication with the child.” If the former couple cannot agree on the days and times of her calls, the judge set a schedule for every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday at 5:30 pm PT.   

The Sun previously reported that Glennon moved, and James now resides at Glennon’s mother’s $5 million estate in Malibu. After losing custody of the now 4-year-old, Glennon was allowed to relocate with the child.

There were several factors that contributed to a judge awarding Glennon custody. In the judgment, the judge wrote that in Portwood’s latest memoir, she “discusses her significant history of substance abuse, her history of domestic violence, her volatile attitude and propensity for aggression, her extensive mental health issues, her belief that the in-patient facility she attended for anger management should have instead been for drug use.”  

The judge concluded: “Her fear she will never have overnight parenting time with her son, that she finds herself canceling on her son more often than she would like, and the idea of getting off probation soon concerns her because she will be unwatched and unchecked.”

Portwood’s past outbursts in the final stages of the case also contributed. “Mother was often emotional during the deposition and had to leave the room on several occasions,” the judge wrote.