Florida couple keeps custody of baby after IVF embryo mix-up

Tiffany Score and Steven Mills reached a custody agreement with their daughter’s biological parents, court records show. The couple will remain Shea’s permanent custodial parents.

Credit: Steven Mills

Score and Mills went through IVF at the Fertility Center of Orlando. Clinic staff implanted one of their embryos in Score in March 2025. Shea was born Dec. 11, 2025.

The couple noticed the baby had physical features that did not match their own. Both parents are white. DNA tests confirmed Shea was not genetically related to them.

The mix-up led Score and Mills to file a lawsuit against the clinic. Attorneys later identified the biological parents, listed in court documents only as Patient 004.

“My clients and Patient 004 had come to a mutually devised custody agreement” that recognizes Score and Mills’ rights as the “permanent custodial parents of their daughter,” Mara Hatfield, the couple’s attorney, wrote in a court filing.

Score and Mills said they plan to build a relationship of friendship and trust with Shea’s biological parents. Details of the agreement remain private.

During a virtual court hearing this week, the judge said she was pleased the parties reached the agreement.

The Fertility Center of Orlando has since closed. The couple continues to seek answers about the error.

Score and Mills had created three embryos. The remaining one has been moved to a new clinic for verification.

The case drew attention to potential issues at the clinic. Attorneys raised questions about other patients in the same group.