GRANT TO AID KIDS; JUVENILE COURT TO GET PLAY SITE.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Daily News Staff Writer

An outdoor play area and children-size furniture are among some of the $150,000 in improvements that will be made to the Lancaster juvenile dependency court, officials said Monday.

The court, which oversees children who are removed from their homes because of suspected abuse and neglect, began operating in September in the former Lancaster sheriff's station next to the courthouse at Avenue J and 10th Street West.

``We will build a play area so the kids have something to do while waiting to go to court,'' said Presiding Juvenile Court Judge Michael Nash. ``We want kids to come to an environment that reduces anxiety.''

A total of $96,000 will go toward building an outdoor play area while the remaining funds will pay for items such as children-size chairs; indoor play equipment; a computer and a mobile computer table; a video cassette recorder and videos; a radio, cassette and CD player; plants; and pictures.

Right now, the court has one room with some furniture where children wait to make appearances in dependency court, and the outdoor area is ``just a dirty old back yard,'' Nash said.

The money for the project comes from a public-private partnership between the courts and the Los Angeles Rotary Club, and matching state and federal funds, Nash said.

One of the top priorities of the Los Angeles Rotary Club is to help abused children. Over the past seven years, the Los Angeles Rotary has contributed to and helped secure more than $1 million toward that effort.

The money was presented Monday in a ceremony at the courthouse attended by a slew of dignitaries, including state Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald George, Los Angeles County Sheriff Sherman Block, county Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, Superior Court Presiding Judge Robert Parkin, and Department of Children and Family Services Director Peter Digre.