IMPOWER’s Heroes of 2023: 12 December

My colleague Samantha Ingamells and I have nominated Olivia Ives as our hero of the year. Olivia is the Assistant Director for Corporate Parenting at Northamptonshire Children’s Trust. She also oversees the implementation of the Circle to Success; a transformation need led approach which has been named by Northamptonshire’s Children in Care Council and Shooting Stars group.

The Circle to Success is transforming how professionals support children by focusing on understanding and communicating their needs and making sure the support provided matches their level of need. Olivia’s determination to make sure that the needs, strengths, and aspirations of children is at the heart of decision making is driving the spread and scale of the approach. She’s constantly looking for opportunities to share ideas and collaborate with partners, children, and families. Olivia inspires her team, offering fair challenge and encouraging everyone to consider creative solutions to improve the experiences of children, families, and carers. Her hard work has contributed to more children and young people moving to live with families, but she’s always striving to do more and make a difference to more children. We can’t wait to continue to see the impact she will have.