Khaberni - The supreme court in Virginia, USA, ruled that an Afghan orphan will stay with an American marine and his wife who brought her with them, defying a previous court decision to return her to her Afghan family.
In 2020, a judge in Fluvanna County, Virginia, granted Joshua and Stephanie Mast the right to adopt the girl, who was in Afghanistan and living with a family the Afghan government said were her relatives.
Today, four judges of the supreme court in Virginia signed a judicial ruling that overturns two decisions from lower courts which had concluded that the adoption procedures were flawed to the extent that they were void from the moment they were issued.
The judges wrote that there is a law in Virginia that solidifies adoption orders after six months and prevents the Afghan girl’s relatives from challenging it in court, even if the adoption was obtained by unlawful means.
