Positivitree – showing our commitment as a council.
11 December 2023
Who wants to see some pictures of us planting our Positivitree?! 🌳
Last Thursday, care experienced young people, Councillors and council staff, planted a rowan tree together outside County Hall. But this wasn’t just any old tree! The tree symbolises Devon’s commitment to work with care experienced people to create the best possible support and services.
It’s part of a national project, called ‘Positivitree’, organised by the National Leaving Care Benchmarking Forum, which plans to plant trees with local authorities across the country. We were one of the first!
We’ve been doing a lot of work with care experienced young people to improve our support, listening more to what young people tell us about their experience of the care system, and doing more to make improvements.
Koda, who is care experienced, was at the tree planting. They said:
“Things have got so much better since I was 18. Six years ago, things were bad, but now it’s actually pretty decent. While I won’t benefit much from any further improvements myself, it’s good to see Devon committing to making things even better for young people who’ve been in the care system.”
And Devon’s Chief Executive, Donna Manson, said:
“We are determined to make Devon the best place to grow up. A significant part of that is to continue to improve the support and services that we provide to all of our care experienced young people. This tree represents that commitment. It symbolises our dedication to creating an environment where our care experienced young people can grow, thrive, and achieve their fullest potential.”
Thanks again to everyone who came out in the rain to make it a special day!
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