Supreme Court of Virginia Upholds Afghan Child Adoption

The United States===Supreme Court of Virginia ruled that a U.S. Marine, Joshua Mast, and his wife, Stephanie Mast, can keep an Afghan child they adopted, overturning lower court decisions. The child was injured in Afghanistan in 2019, and her parents were killed. The United States===United States Department of State, under Donald Trump's first administration, initially sought to reunite her with her Afghan relatives, a decision later reevaluated by the United States===United States Department of Justice. The United States===Supreme Court of Virginia's majority opinion cited a Virginia law that bars challenges to adoption orders after six months, even if obtained by fraud. Dissenting justices criticized the Masts for misleading the courts and called the process 'cancerous'. Judge Richard Moore of Fluvanna County, Virginia, had granted the adoption and his findings were central to the Supreme Court's decision.