CHILDREN'S COURT TO CLOSE TEMPORARILY : ACTION WILL BE DIFFICULT FOR A.V. FAMILIES, CRITICS SAY.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Daily News Staff Writer

The satellite juvenile dependency court will close in February for several months, a move forcing Antelope Valley residents to make a 90-minute trip to the main court in Monterey Park.

There are several hundred active cases in the Lancaster court, which supervises children who were made court wards because of abuse or neglect, but county officials said they are trying to come up with a plan to provide a shuttle service for families who have no car or access to transportation.

``One of the big concerns is the distance is prohibitive. We're talking about families already in distress,'' said Lori Howard, an aide to Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael Antonovich. ``We're talking about not having a car and maybe having to take a bus at 4:30 a.m. It's a greater burden than in any other area.''

Local attorneys who work in the Lancaster court decried the plan Wednesday as wasteful, and they expressed fears that the Lancaster facility will never reopen.

But court officials said they intend to reopen the court when part of the former sheriff's station near the courthouse is remodeled. Work is expected to be complete in April or May, officials said.

``We have every intention of having a dependency court in Lancaster,'' Superior Court Presiding Judge Robert Parkin said.

During the months of construction on the new courtroom, Parkin said one courtroom in Monterey Park will be set aside for existing cases and new filings from the Antelope Valley. There is not enough room in the Lancaster court to do that, Parkin said.

``We recognize it's an inconvenience. We will see if we can assist along those lines,'' Parkin said. ``It's a temporary inconvenience.''

Families said the long drive will be a hardship and force them to take children out of school for a whole day for a hearing, instead of just a morning.

``I'd probably have to get the children up at 4 o'clock in the morning, make sure they have breakfast, and leave at 6 a.m. It'd probably take 2-1/2 hours to get down there because I'd have to take the Metrolink. I know my car wouldn't make it,'' said Diana Levy of Lancaster, a mother of five children, 11 months to 12 years old.

``It's stupid. It's ludicrous,'' she said. ``It's crowded down there already. Why not leave the Lancaster cases in Lancaster?''

To eliminate time-consuming trips to Monterey Park, the Lancaster dependency court opened three years ago after a heavy lobbying campaign by community leaders.

Since July 1995, the Lancaster court has received no new cases because of an already heavy caseload and because court officials consider the facility - a former jury-deliberation room, 14 feet by 21 feet - inadequate.

A public informational meeting will be held at 12:15 p.m. Wednesday in Department B at the Antelope Valley Courthouse, 1040 W. Ave. J.

Scheduled to attend are Parkin and Juvenile Court Presiding Judge Michael Nash, officials said.

The planned move is ``penny-wise and pound foolish,'' attorney Hans Berg claimed.

``They're sending greater numbers of social-service people to waste their day at Monterey Park and spending extra money to transport parents (in a shuttle),'' Berg said. ``It does not make sense to go through the disruption with a shuttle for a couple of months. My feeling is that they didn't want court in first place. The public is getting shortchanged once again.''

Attorney Clifford Nichols called the plan absurd. He said it will cost the county no less to staff a court in Monterey Park than in Lancaster, and there will be the added cost of a shuttle.

``The people involved in the court will have to travel 90 miles to court to see if they can get their children back,'' Nichols said. ``They get the same service in a place up here now, and they are going to close it down.''

The Lancaster dependency court opened in July 1993 and is the only satellite dependency court in the county. The court was opened to eliminate long drives and bus rides for children, their families and social workers.