DENVER — A family from Indiana says it’s dealing with an adoption nightmare and is suing an international adoption agency based in Centennial.

The lawsuit against Chinese Children Adoption International, CCAI, was filed in Denver federal court this week.

The suit alleges the family adopted three boys from CCAI between 2014 and 2016 and one of those boys brutally raped the two younger ones.

The suit goes on to say that CCAI told the family the offender was 12 years old when he was adopted, but the family later learned he was at least 15 to 16 years old. It also says the boy sexually assaulted other children and was sexually assaulted by adults at an orphanage in China. The suit says CCAI knew or should have known about that.

“The bottom line is: this is one of the most traumatic things I’ve ever seen,” said Jonathan Little, one of the family’s attorneys. “CCAI is refusing to take responsibility for what they did. What they did is dangerous (and) reckless.”

However, CCAI disagrees.

Its co-founder and president, Joshua Zhong, sent FOX31 the following statement:

“We have great empathy for the family that brought this suit, but we strongly and categorically deny the allegations. We expect a full vindication through the courts. We stand behind our decades-strong reputation as a professional and ethical non-profit having served thousands of families and children here and in China.”

CCAI’s website states it has helped families adopt 12,870 children since it began in 1992 and was once the number-one rated adoption agency in the world by the Chinese government.

Despite that, FOX31 has discovered CCAI has had a few issues.

In 2018, the Intercountry Adoption Accreditation and Maintenance Entity suspended CCAI’s accreditation for two weeks for not reporting a child’s serious injury within 48 hours. The agency reports CCAI is currently accredited.

CCAI is also currently licensed by the Colorado Department of Human Services.