Foster families getting free fun passes to Pat Harrison Waterway District parks | Local News

Families with foster children can now go to Pat Harrison Waterway District parks for free, officials with the district and the Mississippi Department of Human Services announced at Big Creek Water Park last week.

Mike Corley, who works with the PHWD in Hattiesburg, came up with the idea. He recognized the need because of his own family. He and his wife Rebekah have three adopted children and three foster children.

“At $3.50 each, there’s just no way,” Corley said of the admission cost to the district’s eight parks for his family of eight. “The district could use the revenue, but we decided to do this because it’s the right thing to do.”

In the past, the district offered a day for foster families to get into the park for picnics, swimming, fishing, nature trails and other activities for free once a year. But he saw the need to expand the offer to all year.

“They won’t be inside playing video games or watching movies,” Corley said. “People are looking for something to do with their children.”

There are more than 1,500 foster parents in the state and there were 6,500 foster children in the state last year. There are 85 foster homes in the PHWD, about two dozen of which are in Jones County. Having access to the parks will be good for the parents and the children, said DHS spokeswoman Julia Bryan. All will be eligible for a free “Fun Pass” card, which will get them into any PHWD park free of charge.

“Some of the children will be able to meet in the parks with their parents instead of a sterile environment,” she said. “The outdoors can be healing.”

In many cases, parents who have had children taken from their custody have had to visit their children in the DHS office, and that isn’t always a good environment, she said.

“The children often associate that with where something bad happened, where they were ripped away,” Bryan said. “This is a chance for them to do things a normal family would do.”

Foster families can get their fun pass at their county DHS office.

Bryan said the number of foster children is on the rise.

“We’ve got to protect the children and raise them for the future,” she said.

Parks in the Pat Harrison Waterway District:

Archusa Creek, Quitman Big Creek, Soso; Dry Creek, Mount Olive; Dunnʼs Falls, Enterprise; Flint Creek, Wiggins; Maynor Creek, Waynesboro; Okatibee, Meridian; Turkey Creek, Decatur

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