Counselor retires after 59 years at county juvenile department

Kids across Clackamas County recently lost a great resource and advocate in the juvenile justice system. After working for the county for 59 years, Joan LeBarron retired Monday at the tender age of 80.

LeBarron, who lives in West Linn, was the youngest juvenile counselor in the state of Oregon when she was hired by Clackamas County in 1953. She was just 21. She was also one of the few women hired in that position.

In 1953, LeBarron was one of two counselors hired to work just part-time as a counselor and part-time doing secretarial work. Since then, the county has grown, and so has the department. But her love of the work has never quit. When she was fresh out of high school, LeBarron had her sights set a little higher. She wanted to work for the FBI. However, under the direction of J. Edgar Hoover, no women were being hired.

So, LeBarron, who grew up in Canby, went to the University of Oregon and Portland State University and majored in sociology.

As a juvenile counselor, LeBarron worked with kids ranging in age from 9 to 18 after they were arrested and brought to the juvenile detention center. She helped determine if children could be released to their parents or if they needed to stay at the detention center. Then, throughout the process of working through the court system or trials and all the way through the end of probation, LeBarron regularly met with each child to formulate a plan to keep them on the straight and narrow.

Since 1953, LeBarron worked with kids in the Milwaukie High School area. She said she thinks that not a lot has changed in the juvenile justice system over the years. It’s her belief that kids are kids.

“A lot of the kids who get in trouble are very nice and very smart, even,” she said.

However, one thing that has changed with the increase in the use of drugs is that kids are being brought in on multiple charges instead of just one.

“After a while it kind of gets disheartening,” she admitted. “They lose themselves when they get involved with drugs.”

LeBarron often worked with both the kids and their parents to devise ways to help the children. Her peers are one of the reasons why LeBarron stayed working for so long. She loves her coworkers. When there weren’t so many of them years ago, they kept a rubber rooster in the office, and when someone was having a hard day, they would often come to find the silly creature on their desk to brighten their mood.

“I enjoy the work and I enjoy the camaraderie of the other counselors,” LeBarron said. “You always feel like somebody is there in the same position you are in.”

LeBarron has a deep respect for all of the kids who walk through her door and never looks down her nose at them. But not all of them take her advice.

“Most of these kids are not dumb. And then there are those you just can’t figure out,” LeBarron said.

For her, the hardest part of the job was “trying to decide what to do for each individual youth and the family so they don’t get into trouble again.”

LeBarron thinks kids are getting into more trouble these days because families’ lives are much busier.

“I think we have so much going on in the United States now, and families are not families like they used to be,” she said. A lot of the troublemakers are just looking for attention, she found.

“It’s frustrating when you see the potential there and they are not developing it,” she said.

The Clackamas County Board of Commissioners honored LeBarron for her years of service during its July 12 business meeting.

“She has always embraced change with an enthusiastic attitude and has served as a positive role model among her peers,” Clackamas County Public Affairs Manager Tim Heider said. “LeBarron is highly respected and admired for her vast network of community contacts, a devoted work ethic and her ability to relate to her youthful clients.”

LeBarron’s husband has been retired for 20 years, so she decided it was time to hang up her hat and start doing something else — what that is, she’s not quite sure yet.

“I just decided I needed to do something different,” she said.

Although she will miss the work and the other counselors, LeBarron will not miss waking up at 4:30 each morning and the rotations of being on call.

“It’s been a lot of fun,” she said.