I'm raising my four-year-old granddaughter on my own in my 60s. I expect to work until I die.

"This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Dorenne Simonson, 66, who is her granddaughter's kinship care provider in New Jersey. Simonson has parented her since she was two months old. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. I've always been in a situation where I had to spend whatever I made. There's no retirement account when you're single and raise five kids by yourself."

"My oldest just turned 42, and my youngest will be 30 this year. I've also been a licensed foster parent since I got my granddaughter when she was two months old in 2022. I taught early literacy in a Head Start-type program for a few years in a second-grade classroom. After that, I started working in healthcare, managing primary care offices, and I've done so since 2009."

"I work from 8 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. It does offer me some flexibility, as there are only the two of us, just myself and the provider. My provider has three young children, so she understands my life more than the average person. My children understand on some level how big a commitment this is for me, but only one of them has children. They've done what they can, but they still have their own lives."

Dorenne Simonson, 66, is raising her granddaughter in New Jersey as a kinship care provider and became a licensed foster parent when the child was placed with her at two months old in 2022. The child's mother struggled with mental health and substance abuse, prompting the placement through the Division of Child Protection and Permanency. Simonson works in healthcare managing primary care offices since 2009 and keeps a Monday–Friday schedule from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. She relies on a childcare provider with three children for flexible support, manages tight finances after raising five children alone, and plans to adopt her granddaughter.

Read at Business Insider