From Doe v. Mast, decided Wednesday by Judge Norman Moon (W.D. Va.) (for more on the recent Virginia Court of Appeals decision voiding the adoption, see this AP story [Martha Mendoza, Juliet Linderman & Claire Galofaro]):
The facts alleged in Plaintiffs' complaint tell a remarkable story of resilience and duplicity. In the aftermath of a September 2019 joint operation by the United States and Afghan militaries conducted in rural Afghanistan, "Baby Doe" was found in the rubble of her family's home. Her parents and siblings lay dead. She was seriously injured, and was, as a result, taken to a U.S. military hospital for emergency treatment. A short time later, the International Committee of the Red Cross ("ICRC") and the United States and Afghan governments began trying to find, and reunite Baby Doe with, her biological family in Afghanistan.
In February 2020, their efforts paid off. Baby Doe and her family were reunited. Plaintiffs John Doe (Baby Doe's cousin) and his wife Jane Doe are a young, married Afghan couple who became Baby Doe's guardians. They raised Baby Doe as their own daughter for a year and a half. But, at the same time, an American couple's efforts to remove Baby Doe from their care were well underway.
Defendant Joshua Mast—a Marine Corps Major and Judge Advocate—was stationed in Afghanistan in the fall of 2019 where he became familiar with Baby Doe and her case. Joshua knew that the ICRC was searching for Baby Doe's family. Yet in October 2019, Joshua and his wife Defendant Stephanie Mast asked a Virginia family court for temporary custody of Baby Doe, claiming that she was "stateless," and that the Afghan government would soon waive its authority (also called "jurisdiction") over her. At the time, Baby Doe had never been to Virginia. Or the United States. Stephanie had never met her. But based on their representations, the Virginia family court awarded temporary custody to the Masts. Days later, Stephanie secured an interlocutory order of adoption from the Virginia Circuit Court, designating Joshua and Stephanie Mast as Baby Doe's father and mother.
Then, the day before Baby Doe was to be reunited with her biological family in Afghanistan, the Masts came to this Court and sued the government, asking for an emergency order stopping the transfer. Joshua's brother, Defendant Richard Mast, represented them in all these proceedings. When this Court asked Richard why Joshua and Stephanie wished to stop Baby Doe's return to her relatives in Afghanistan, he responded falsely that they did not seek to adopt Baby Doe—only to get her medical care in the United States. This Court denied the motion.
