Walter’s Miracle : A child born battling drug addiction and a learning disability finds stability and hope with his grandmother. : HEARTS of the CITY / Exploring attitudes and issues behind the news

Walter Dees’ story was a sadly familiar one. Born addicted to crack cocaine, Walter went straight from the hospital delivery room into foster care after his parents were deemed unfit to care for him.

He grew into an unmanageable, severely hyperactive child. Social workers said he would probably need heavy medication and state-funded care for a lifetime, unless a miracle happened.

Viola Dees was his miracle.

She is Walter’s grandmother, a devoted, tireless woman who took Walter in two years ago after a protracted custody fight. Today, at age 7, Walter is nearly caught up in school, healthy and active, but not overly so.

Just as remarkable as Walter’s drastic transformation is that Dees is more than 12 times his age.

The 86-year-old Dees and the energetic second-grader are now near-constant companions, living by themselves in their South-Central home, studying and working on Walter’s recovery.

Today, Walter is a fresh-faced, smiling youngster full of curiosity and life. Dees, though her skin is weathered and her hair is pure white, is quick-witted and energetic.

“Everybody told me, ‘You can’t handle this at your age. You don’t need this,’ ” she said, her voice laced with a Southern drawl. “But Walter did need me, he needed someone to love him, he needed patience and attention and faith. And that’s all.”

Social workers call Dees a related caregiver, and statistics show that she is not alone. In 1995, at least 22,000 Los Angeles County children were cared for by relatives other than their parents, according to the Department of Children’s Services.

Most related caregivers struggle to make ends meet, social workers said. But they take on the burden of additional children because, like Dees, they care too much to let their young relatives slip through the cracks.

“These people say, ‘I never wanted to be a parent again, but I just can’t let this child go uncared for,’ ” said Jenny Weisz, a lawyer for Public Counsel, a pro bono group helping Dees with legal issues. “These people are the saints of the world and Viola is definitely one of them.”

Dees, a slim, meticulously dressed woman who was one of 13 children born to Mississippi farmers, shrugs off the notion that she has done anything remarkable.

“It has been a trying time, of course,” said Dees, who retired from domestic work 20 years ago. “I hear people talk all the time about what they can’t do: I can’t ride the bus, I can’t finish school. But we have to think about what can be done in life.”

Walter spent his first five years in a foster home, where he spent the vast majority of his days alone watching television, Dees said. An untreated skin condition left open sores on his scalp. His caretakers repeatedly told him he was difficult, hyperactive.

To this day, despite his grandmother’s gentle corrections, the child uses the same derogatory terms to describe himself to visitors.

Dees began this latest chapter of her life when Walter’s father died two years ago, and Children’s Services reviewed the child’s case. She won custody--and then the hard part began.

At kindergarten age, Walter could not hold a conversation, did not know what writing instruments were for, did not know how to dress himself or play with other children.

In the first months after he moved in with his grandmother, the child with huge, delicate eyes often wept from frustration, Dees said. He just didn’t understand the concept of rules.

Dees never spanked him, but the two would talk at length, discussing right from wrong over and over. When he couldn’t sleep, Dees stayed up until dawn reading and singing with him.

Slowly, he began to settle down. He started to learn.

*

School testing revealed that Walter was within the normal skills range for children, but he still could not sit still for long and was sent to special education classes. He was tentatively diagnosed with attention deficit disorder.

Doctors advised a calming medication for Walter. Dees resisted at first, saying she wanted to “deal with Walter, the person, not the medicated version of him.” But she acquiesced and Walter’s school performance has since improved.

“Walter is naturally intelligent,” said Irene Lackey, his special education teacher. “He is an amazing little boy who is just doing so great. . . . I think every bit of his progress comes from the work Viola has done with him.”

Now, the only problem with no solution is the most obvious one: Dees’ age.

She doesn’t plan on dying anytime soon, she said with a hearty laugh. But when she passes away, Dees wants to make sure Walter’s care continues.

She is working with Public Counsel to transfer her $640 monthly Social Security check to Walter when she is gone. Only in rare cases is a grandparent-grandchild check transfer allowed, her lawyers said.

The case is still pending.

Walter continues to grow quickly, working on his reading and going to Sunday school every week.

“Old as I am, I learn as much from him as he learns from me,” Dees said. “You never get too old to learn.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

The Beat

Today’s centerpiece focuses on an 86-year-old woman who is caring for her young grandson. For more information about becoming or helping a caregiver call:

Los Angeles County Kinship Care program, 213-351-4839.

Public Counsel, a pro bono group that assists caregivers with legal issues, 213-385-2977.