Virginia Supreme Court rules US Marine's adoption of an Afghan war orphan will stand

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By JULIET LINDERMAN and CLAIRE GALOFARO
Updated 3:31 PM CST, February 12, 2026

The Virginia Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a U.S. Marine and his wife will keep an Afghan orphan they brought home in defiance of a U.S. government decision to reunite her with her Afghan family. The decision likely ends a bitter, yearslong legal battle over the girl’s fate.

In 2020, a judge in Fluvanna County, Virginia, granted Joshua and Stephanie Mast an adoption of the child, who was then 7,000 miles away in Afghanistan living with a family the Afghan government decided were her relatives.

Four justices on the Virginia Supreme Court on Thursday signed onto an opinion reversing two lower courts’ rulings that found the adoption was so flawed it was void from the moment it was issued.

The justices wrote that a Virginia law that cements adoption orders after six months bars the child’s Afghan relatives from challenging the court, no matter how flawed its orders and even if the adoption was obtained by fraud.



Read more: https://apnews.com/article/afghan-baby-adoption-marine-virginia-3703a5a979633bcd000e537e6eb1f5ff

[JMCKUSICK]

1. I'm really afraid to read this article OS,

"The justices wrote that a Virginia law that cements adoption orders after six months bars the child’s Afghan relatives from challenging the court, no matter how flawed its orders and even if the adoption was obtained by fraud."

Not the most endearing paragraph I've ever read supporting any Supreme Courts ruling, state or federal.