[missw005]

Matt,

First of all, the special needs board might be a better spot for your post. Many adoptive parents on that board adopted their kids as teens.

Second, I've been a foster parent for over 11 years and an adoptive parent for 5. Because I'm both, sometimes I take in kids temporarily until they can solve the birth parents' situation (ie, drug bust, in the drunk tank, etc.) or until they can find the kid a bed in a long-term home, group home or shelter.
Therefore, I've taken kids out of birth order. And let me tell you (my kids are now 4 and 7), it has not worked well. Teens, even pre-teens, are irritated by younger kids. They get in their stuff, "bug" them, ask too many questions, etc. Most teens do not think these little ones are cute and funny - and if they do, they don't think it for long. Your household is probably also "set up" for younger children. Not just the toys and decor, but kid-friendly meals, household routines and everything else. As a parent, it's a hard adjustment to go from one to the other.
Let alone the danger factors. Abuse of every kind - and I'm not just talking sexual here. Physical abuse - sometimes even just roughhousing gets out of hand as teens are not used to toning it down for little ones. Or their irritation gets the best of them and they make it hurt "just a little bit, mom, really" to "teach those little kids a lesson." Verbal abuse - teens can be nasty! I know this as a foster parent AND as a high school teacher. Teens will let you have it! I'm not just talking about swearing - I mean threats, personal stuff, you name it. Do you really want your little ones to have to listen to it? You think you can control it, but you can't. You just never know when they'll spout off about something, and you can't be with them 24/7.
Control issues are also big. They have no control over their lives, and what happens to them - and you're now the one controlling them. They'll look around to see who THEY can control............and there are your younger children. Be it stupid dares to do something, or conning them into taking/saying/doing stuff........your kids are vulnerable and that teen will know it.

That said.........
As a teacher, I've met a few teens over the years in the schools I work in with family/home issues that I would have happily taken in. In fact, there's a boy right now that is trying to work out his living situation (he was living w/b-grandma, she died, now he's living with her boyfriend) - and if it doesn't work out, I'd take him in - in a second. He's a great kid, just ended up with a crappy family situation.
However, that's going to be really difficult for you to determine from a teen's file written by social workers. Along with their difficult sides, teens are also very smart. They know how to work the system and the people in it. Everyone can be fooled. Everyone.
I had a student a couple years ago also in a crappy family situation that I thought about taking in.........only to find out later that he'd been taking drugs - and had recently started dealing them as well to support his habit. Everyone on staff was floored. We had no idea, and we spent most of the time with this kid. And this is in a school with a lot of drug- and alcohol-abusing kids. In fact, many of the other students were shocked as well. The point being.............they can pull one over your eyes as well as they can their workers'.

Perhaps a good starting point would be doing respite for another foster family - on weekends? It would give you a chance to see what it's like without making a permanent commitment. That and the foster family the teen currently lives with is highly likely to be honest about their issues.

Again, re-posting your question on the special needs board will give you a broader response from people who are doing it and have lived to tell the tale.

Best of luck to you.

Sandy