Need thoughts/advice.

Here is our situation. We have been matched with a 15 year old boy, he is currently in emergency placement, and will be put into a RTC because they have no where else for him to go. Since he came into care a little over a year ago, he has been in 2 RTC, & 2 emergency placements due to no therapeutic foster homes available. (one RTC stay was necessary in the beginning, but level of care has been dropped) We are now waiting for his redacted case files before we can meet him, or begin any visits. His caseworker was willing to allow him to be placed with us as a foster home since the case files could take up to 8 months. However, our agency is hesitant because he is a teen and has been in RTC, they want us to have the whole story before committing to him. I understand they are trying to protect us, but that is 8 months this young man will sit in RTC, he has not been in a foster home since entering care. Will HIPAA laws allow us access to his therapists from the RTCs to discuss his time with them? I know we cannot view his records, but would it restrict us from discussing his history, and current progress with them? It will be the same information we will receive in the redacted files. We plan to bring this up to our agency, as well as his case worker. Personally, I feel speaking with his therapists will give us more insight into the young man than his files ever could. We would love any experiences/thoughts on this.