New Playground In Marietta Not Open To The Public

MARIETTA, OH — The Washington County Department of Job and Family Services held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for their new park yesterday. The park is located on Davis Avenue right by Marietta High School. This project had been in the works for many years, and is unique from most playgrounds because of what it means to the community.

Live in Marietta? Click here to subscribe to our free breaking news alerts delivered to your inbox and mobile devices. Follow Marietta Patch on Facebook and Twitter, and download our free Patch mobile app on Android or iPhone.

There are parents in Marietta who, for whatever reason, had their children taken away from them. This playground was built for those parents who don’t get that much time with their children. They may only be allowed two hours a week with them, two hours a week at the Children Services building.

Children Services Executive Director Jamie Vuksic says those couple of hours, should be quality time. He explained that it isn’t much fun for a kid to sit in a gray 12 by 12 room for two-hours. “It isn’t always a conducive environment. If they’re sitting in the same room two times a week and they start to get the impression that the reason they’re there is because of the mistakes you’ve made. That’s not the best environment to sort problems out.” He says while some might argue that they deserve to be there, the goal is to fix the problems that exist and get them moving back into their independent lives.

So the idea is that these kids get to look forward to supervised visitation with their parent. “So we’ve already had a couple of visits where they were able to get out, and be monitored of course, but it has an entirely different feel to it.” Vuksic says his job is monitoring interaction and helping people work through things, but that was difficult when everyone is in a room and sitting around a table for two hours. “This gives them the ability to get up, move around, have a little bit of fun. From that fun, I’ve seen conversation actually happen.” The hope is to get families reunified quicker.

This park isn’t open to the public right now, and there are confidentiality requirements that complicate things. “Right now it’s delicate having two families there at the same time because of confidentiality.” He says while some people might blame the parents here, it definitely isn’t the child’s fault, and they need to be protected.

There are insurance issues that need to be worked out. There will be signage in place and eventually cameras to monitor the playground. Until the kinks get worked out, this will exclusively be a playground reserved for children in the system to spend time with their parents.

Have a news tip or suggestion on how I can improve Marietta Patch? Maybe you're interested in having your business become one of our latest sponsors? Email any and all inquiries to me at christopher.schmitt@patch.com.