Couple caught in IVF mix-up allowed to keep baby who isn’t genetically theirs
Ben Williams
Featured Image Credit: Fox10 News
A couple caught up in a devastating IVF mix-up have finally had some good news after discovering the baby they had welcomed was not genetically theirs.
Tiffany Score and Steven Mills had undergone IVF at the Fertility Center of Orlando in Florida, with the couple previously saying they produced and stored three viable embryos.
They later sued the clinic, as well as its lead reproductive endocrinologist, after alleging Score had been implanted with an embryo they believed was theirs.
The couple, who are both white, welcomed their daughter, Shea, in December 2025, but later pursued genetic testing after saying she ‘displayed the physical appearance of a racially non-Caucasian child’.
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Those tests revealed Shea was not genetically related to either of them, with their attorney previously saying the baby was 100 percent South Asian.
Now, Score and Mills have been allowed to keep Shea after reaching a custody agreement with the little girl’s biological parents.
In a court filing on Friday - reported by NBC News - the couple’s attorney Mara Hatfield said Score, Mills and the biological parents had 'come to a mutually devised custody agreement'.
The agreement recognises Score and Mills as the ‘permanent custodial parents of their daughter’.
The biological parents have been identified in court documents only as Patient 004, and their names have not been made public.
Their attorney Rob Marcereau said in an email that they ‘intend to remain a part of this child’s life, while recognising the impossible situation that both families have been placed in, through no fault of their own.’
Circuit Court Judge Margaret Schreiber welcomed the update during a hearing on Monday.
She said, as reported by the Orlando Sentinel: “I’m glad the parties have reached an agreement while this child is relatively young.”
The agreement comes after months of uncertainty for the family, who had previously made clear they wanted to continue raising Shea.
In earlier legal documents, Score and Mills said they had created an ‘intensely strong emotional bond’ with their daughter, beginning during the pregnancy.
After Shea’s biological parents were identified, the couple also said they would ‘love and will be this child’s parents forever.’
The case has drawn wider attention because embryo mix-ups are understood to be extremely rare, with only a small number of similar situations known to have affected families.
According to a summary in court filings, the defendants have not disputed that Shea ‘should be, but is not, the genetic child’ of Score and Mills.
The clinic has faced legal and financial issues and announced earlier this year that it would be closing, with another IVF network later opening in the same location.
The case is still ongoing while genetic testing is carried out on a frozen embryo the clinic has said belongs to Score and Mills. That embryo has since been moved to another facility.
In a statement shared on Monday through their attorney, Score and Mills said they were committed to protecting the privacy of Shea’s biological parents, ‘with whom they have begun and intend to continue to foster a relationship of friendship and trust'.