Claire Arden has been appointed as the new Assistant Diocesan Safeguarding Adviser following the retirement of Sarah Booth. Claire will work with Hilary and Delia in the safeguarding team, providing safeguarding support and advice across the Diocese.
Claire retired from West Midlands Police at the end of April having joined the force straight from school and was keen to continue to use her skills in a part-time role. For the past eight years Claire has worked as part of the online child sexual exploitation team and for the seven years before that was part of the child abuse investigation team, managing a team of 10 people.
She said: “I have significant safeguarding experience from these two roles, as well as experience of taking a multi-agency approach and the importance of being victim-led. The Assistant Adviser role came up at a perfect time for me and I’m looking forward to continuing to being able to make a difference to people’s lives. People should be able to worship safely if they wish to, it is essential that church is a safe place for everyone.”
Claire will be working with the safeguarding team for 17.5 hours a week, generally over Wednesday – Friday, helping with the case load and also helping to implement the changes set out by IICSA and the second past-cases review. In her free time Claire enjoys open water swimming, doing sprint triathlons and looking after her allotment.
