Mast v. A.A., Record No. 240707 (Va. Feb. 12, 2026)

The Supreme Court of Virginia, in a 4-3 decision, reversed the Court of Appeals and reinstated a 2020 final adoption order that granted Joshua and Stephanie Mast the right to adopt a child orphaned in Afghanistan. The majority held that Virginia’s adoption finality statute, Code § 63.2-1216, barred all challenges to the adoption order—including by the couple who claimed to be the child’s legal guardians under Afghan law—regardless of the severity of the alleged defects in the proceedings. More