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A Florida couple will keep permanent custody of the baby they raised after an apparent IVF embryo mix-up. The agreement ends the custody dispute, but their lawsuit over the missing embryos continues.
A Florida couple who raised a baby born through an apparent IVF mix-up will retain permanent custody under a newly finalized agreement with the child's biological parents. (Representative image)
UPDATED: Jun 19, 2026 01:15 IST
A Florida couple who unknowingly gave birth to and raised a child who is not genetically theirs after an apparent IVF mix-up will retain permanent custody of the baby under a newly finalised agreement with the child's biological parents, according to court records cited by USA TODAY.
The agreement, filed on June 12, ends a months-long legal and emotional ordeal for Tiffany Score and Steven Mills, whose daughter Shea was born on December 11 following an in vitro fertilisation (IVF) procedure at the Fertility Clinic of Orlando in April 2025.
Court documents state that the parties have come to a mutually devised custody agreement and that Score and Mills will continue as the permanent custodial parents of their daughter.
The biological parents, identified only as "Patient 004" in court records, were located earlier this year after genetic testing was conducted on couples treated at the fertility centre.
The case came to light when Shea appeared to be of a different race than her parents, who are both white. Subsequent DNA testing revealed that the child is 100% South Asian, leading to the discovery that the wrong embryo had been implanted.
Despite the shocking revelation, Score and Mills maintained that their bond with the child would not change.
"Only one thing is as absolutely certain today as it was on the day our daughter was born – we will love and will be this child's parents forever," the couple said in a statement provided to USA TODAY in April.
The custody agreement allows Shea to remain with the couple who have raised her since birth, while bringing an end to the dispute with her biological parents.
However, questions remain about what happened to the embryos originally provided by Score and Mills to the clinic.
The couple has filed a negligence lawsuit against IVF Life Inc. and Dr. Milton McNichol, who operated the Fertility Clinic of Orlando, alleging failures that led to the embryo mix-up.
According to the lawsuit, the couple fears their biological embryos may have been implanted in other patients and that they could have biological children being raised elsewhere without their knowledge.
The lawsuit seeks free genetic testing for all patients and children born from embryo implantations performed by the clinic during the past five years, the period during which the clinic had custody of their embryos.
The clinic informed patients earlier this year that it would close and be replaced by another fertility provider, CNY Fertility. No reason was given for the closure.
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Published By:
Nitish Singh
Published On:
Jun 19, 2026 01:15 IST
