GSCC case: Social worker barred for inappropriate examinations

A social worker has been removed from the register after a General Social Care Council conduct committee heard he had carried out inappropriate physical examinations of children dating back to 1974.

Wladyslaw Piotr Kiczma, now 65 and retired, examined children’s genitals when he was in charge of the Stuart’s Road children’s home in Birmingham.

He was given permission to carry out Freedom From Infection checks, which were standard practice at the time and designed to ensure that children arriving in homes did not have infections such as head lice and scabies, which could be passed on to others.

Examined genitals

But he also requested that children removed their clothes and examined their genitals.

Witness Miss G, who was placed in the home in 1982 when she was 14 with her younger brother and sister, told the hearing that she had been told to strip to her underwear for the examination by Kiczma, a state-registered nurse, who described himself as a doctor.

Her younger brother, known as Child E, was examined while naked by Kiczma when he arrived at the home and had then been subjected to weekly checks, said Miss G. She added that her brother had told her Kiczma would touch him, he would touch Kiczma and that he believed he was gay.

HIV

Child E went on to become a prostitute and contracted HIV. He then complained to Birmingham Council about Kiczma’s actions and an investigation was launched in 1989. Child E later died.

Care Quality Commission chief executive Cynthia Bower and Hampshire Council director of children’s services John Coughlan worked on the investigation. At its conclusion Kiczma received a final warning after it was decided by the council that they could prove “no salacious intent” on his part.

Coughlan told the committee the case had stayed with him, adding that telling the children involved that Kiczma would remain in post was “one of the most difficult things I have had to do in my career to date”.

Kiczma did not appear at the hearing because of ill-health but in written submissions he said he had carried out the checks and on rare occasions it had been necessary to examine genitals.

More information

Charges against Kiczma

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