Adopting teenagers

[ArtieArtois]

DH and I would like to have at least one more child but neither of us are keen on doing the preschool stage again. DH is a teacher and I have volunteered in Scouts and other youth groups. Both of us have worked with many LAC and care leavers over the years. We feel that we have the skills to offer a stable home to a teenager and support them into young adulthood.

We are not complete strangers to adoption. We adopted DS when he was 2. He's now 21! I expect the system has changed since then and a 2 year old is very different to a teenager!

Are there many teenagers waiting for adoptive families? Would anyone be able to tell us their experiences with adopting teens?

You are really looking at long term fostering.
Its very exceptional that children over the age of 9/10 are adopted, teenagers even more so. The only young people I know who were adopted as teens were living with the family in long term foster placements.
Teens in care are the most complex, many will have had multiple moves, disrupted placements, disrupted education etc etc.
There is a desperate shortage of foster carers, particularly for teens. I've just started my FC training, when I said I was interested in teens they were putting the flags out.
That said, if you want to adopt not foster, there is no need to go back to preschoolers.There are plenty of 'older' children ie 5+ who are looking for families.
My son was 7, rising 8, when he came home. There are plenty of kids like him on the cusp of being deemed unacceptable who get looked over