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You may remember that a while back we talked about Marine Major Joshua Mast, who with his wife adopted an Afghan child. Except it turned out the little girl was living with her relatives at the time.<\/p>\n
Apparently her true parents were killed in a joint US\/Afghan counter-insurgent raid in the war, and the 20-month old little girl was hospitalized from the same attack. (According to one article, same of the Afghan fighters on the scene advocated killing her or throwing her in the river as an enemy combatant.)<\/p>\n
The Army Rangers told CBS News they made a car seat from scraps and medical equipment. With a bandage wrapped around her head, the baby was taken to a U.S. military hospital in Afghanistan. She was treated for fractures to her leg and skull, and second-degree burns on her face and neck.<\/p>\n
Joshua Mast, a U.S. Marine Corps lawyer who was deployed to Afghanistan at the time, wasn’t on the raid, but says he heard about the child from his boss.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
CBS News<\/a><\/p>\n
Gets a little sticky after this – the Afghans identified, and placed the girl, with cousins of the girls’ parents,\u00a0 who were raising the child when Mast adopted her and help bring all of them to the US during the evacuation.<\/p>\n
The Afghan couple says in court filings they thought they were bringing Baby L to the U.S. for medical treatment. In a federal lawsuit, they claim the Masts encouraged them to bring the baby to the U.S. solely for medical care, but never told them they had already adopted the baby. The Afghan couple says they did not know the Masts had officially adopted the baby in the U.S. and were blindsided when the Masts took custody.<\/p>\n
The Masts say they made it clear that Baby L would become their adopted child.<\/p>\n
Asked if he feels he effectively communicated that he had custody of the child and was legally responsible for her in the U.S., Joshua Mast said he did.<\/p>\n
“I mean, they used her military ID and her U.S. name and identity to get to America,” he said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
CBS News<\/a><\/p>\n
Obviously a situation wherein everyone thinks they communicated clearly to the other side, but didn’t – with a now-4 year old girl caught in the middle.\u00a0 US State and Justice Departments are siding with the Afghan government saying the girl should stay with her relatives. Mast maintains that there is no proof, such as DNA testing, that the Afghan couple even ARE her relatives.<\/p>\n
In a highly unusual ruling, a state court judge on Thursday voided a U.S. Marine\u2019s adoption of an Afghan war orphan, more than a year after he took the little girl away from the Afghan couple raising her. But her future remains uncertain.<\/p>\n
For now, the child will stay with Marine Maj. Joshua Mast and his wife, Stephanie, under a temporary custody order they obtained before the adoption. The Masts will have to re-prove to the court that they should be granted a permanent adoption.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n