How Could You? Hall of Shame-Jack and Karen Lynn High
This will be an archive of heinous actions by those involved in child welfare, foster care and adoption. We forewarn you that these are deeply disturbing stories that may involve sex abuse, murder, kidnapping and other horrendous actions.
From Union,Mississippi,”The former director of Happiness Hill Christian Home for girls on Deemer Road and his wife were charged with embezzlement after $210,313.36 was reported missing following a state audit, the authorities said.
Jack High, 69, of …, and Karen Lynn High, 67, same address, were charged with taking the money from the Christian home, a mission of Lighthouse Baptist Church in Lafayette, Ind.
High was director of Happiness Hill and his wife was secretary/treasurer, Sheriff Tommy Waddell said.
They are no longer employed by the home, which is now directed by John and Anna Rush. While a routine state audit revealed $210,313.36 in missing funds, Waddell said a separate in-house audit showed $383,251.05.
Sheriff Investigator Ralph Sciple said he was notified of the missing funds on March 8 by William Murdock, chairman of the board of Lighthouse Baptist Church. The Highs were arrested on April 21. The Highs were released from jail on bonds. Happiness Hill was founded in 1991 by Raymond and Kaye Palmer.
It is a home for young ladies between the ages of 13-17 who want and are willing to receive help. According to their website, many of the young ladies have been abused, neglected and unwanted. Some may be caught up in alcohol, drugs, being with the wrong crowd, rebellion and some may just have no one to care for them, the website said. Among the home’s financial supporting ministries in this area are Arlington, Calvary and Enon Baptist churches and First Baptist Church of Union and Greenland Baptist Church of Union. A home for boys was later opened called the Solid Rock Boy’s Home. The two homes are located within five miles of each other on Road 505, better known as Deemer Road. ”
Director of group home arrested [Neshoba Democrat 5/25/16 by Tristan Stovall]
REFORM Puzzle Piece
Hmmmm… I was a girl there and it wasn’t “wanting or willing to get help” it was more like you have a problem your parent stuck you there because they didn’t want to deal with it… and the boys home might I add abuse happened in the home as well… don’t even get me started on what actually happened there.
The majority of girls put into the care of Jack and Karen high were from “Christian” or more specifically Baptist homes where the parents just didn’t want to deal with their mental health issues. Instead of taking us to therapy we were dropped off here on false pretenses. The unwanted lost puppy type was rare. There was no therapy. We were taught to be quiet, don’t ask questions and “get saved”. It was a cult funded by baptist churches. The mental, sexual and physical abuse that went on would take a book to articulate. The education was self paced and low quality/non existent. Physical labor was expected on a daily basis. The leadership would restrict your food as punishment and if we were in need of a basic product like shampoo we were told to pray for it. The churches funding this place were fed a spiel of positive change on the lives of young ladies when all of us just wanted to get out. I was lucky I only had to be there for a year but some of the other girls where there for 2,3,4 or 5 because their parents or families didn’t want to deal with depression anxiety or some type of easily treatable disorder.
I was in this hell hole for 9 months, only reason it wasn’t forced on me to stay longer is because I turned 18 3 months into my time there and they could not legally keep me there. I stayed only until I received my diploma and then flew back to PA. Mind you the diploma was even a fraud and I was required to get my GED in order to be accepted into college