I'm 73 and raising 3 great-grandchildren. Money is tight, and I don't know if I'll live to see them grow up. Ira Brown is now raising three of her great-grandchildren. Ira Brown Ira Brown, 73, raised her children and granddaughter, and is now raising three great-grandchildren. She and her husband live close to paycheck to paycheck, and are exhausted from caretaking. More older adults like Brown are caring for their grandchildren and great-grandchildren nowadays. This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Ira Brown, a 73-year-old great-grandmother in Texas who raised her children, her granddaughter, and her great-grandson. She recently took in two other great-grandchildren as a temporary guardian. The following has been edited for length and clarity. After I retired in 2016, my husband and I had planned to travel all over. Then, my granddaughter became pregnant at 20. When her baby was about a month old, I got a call from her, saying that CPS was going to take her baby and put him in foster care .…