Court Voids Marine’s Adoption of Afghan Child Who Was Orphaned

A U.S. Marine’s adoption of an Afghan girl who still has some family members alive was improperly authorized, an appeals court ruled on July 16. Maj. Joshua Mast’s adoption of the girl, who was 2 months old when she was found on a battlefield in Afghanistan after a 2019 U.S. military operation, should not have happened because the adoption fit none of the categories authorized by Virginia law, Virginia Court of Appeals Judge Daniel Ortiz said. “Well-meaning intentions and emergency circumstances are not enough to grant a court the authority or power to complete an adoption. This is especially true when a child is physically present in a foreign country—here, Afghanistan—that has not waived jurisdiction,” Judge Ortiz said....