Just days after the two families at the heart of a heartbreaking IVF mix-up reached a permanent custodial agreement, the anonymous biological parents have broken their silence, saying they are "heartbroken" after losing custody of the child.
The baby girl was born to Tiffany Score and Steven Mills, a caucasian couple from Central Florida, after a fertility clinic implanted the wrong embryo, with DNA testing later confirming the baby was not genetically theirs.
Highlights
- The biological parents broke their silence, saying they are “heartbroken” after reaching a custody agreement with Tiffany Score and Steven Mills.
- Tiffany and Steven have taken legal action against the Fertility Center of Orlando and its lead reproductive endocrinologist over the embryo mix-up.
- Both the biological and birth parents have agreed that the biological parents will remain part of baby Shea’s life.
The mix-up occurred at the Fertility Center of Orlando, where the Florida couple had entrusted the IVF (in vitro fertilization) clinic with helping them grow their family.
After reaching a custody agreement with Tiffany Score and Steven Mills, the baby girl's biological parents said they were “heartbroken”
Image credits: Tiff Score/Facebook
In January this year, Tiffany and Steven filed a lawsuit against the clinic after the child, Shea, born in December 2025, “displayed the physical appearance of a racially non-caucasian child,” according to the legal filing.
The couple sued the Fertility Center of Orlando and its head reproductive endocrinologist, Dr. Milton McNichol, accusing them of implanting the wrong embryo in April 2025.
DNA testing confirmed that Shea was not genetically related to them and that she was of South Asian descent, meaning the clinic had implanted the wrong embryo.
Image credits: NBC News
This led not only to legal action against the fertility clinic but also to what Tiffany and Steven described as a “moral obligation” to find the baby’s biological parents.
Without revealing the biological parents’ identities, Tiffany and Steven announced in April that they had finally identified them.
After months of negotiations, the two families officially reached a permanent custody agreement on Tuesday, June 16.
Image credits: Tiff Score/Facebook
Court papers filed last week on June 12 reveal that Tiffany and Steven have “come to a mutually devised custody agreement” with the baby’s biological parents.
Under the agreement, Tiffany and Steven will “continue as the permanent custodial parents of their daughter.”
Moreover, Score and Mills’ attorney said in a public statement that the two couples “have begun and intend to continue to foster a relationship of friendship and trust.”
Tiffany and Steven have taken legal action against the Fertility Center of Orlando and its lead reproductive endocrinologist over the embryo mix-up
Image credits: Tiff Score/Facebook
Now, days later, the South Asian biological parents, who chose to remain anonymous, said through their attorney, Rob Marcereau, that they would have preferred to keep the infant.
Marcereau told NBC News, “They are heartbroken over what has happened, and they also understand that the birth couple is also suffering.”
The attorney continued, “They had to make the heartbreaking decision to not fight for custody.”
Image credits: NBC News
The biological parents chose not to pursue what Marcereau described as an “uphill legal battle” because they believed uprooting the child from the only parents she has ever known would not be in Shea’s best interest.
The two families reached the agreement through several emotional, private meetings and plan to allow the biological parents to maintain a relationship with Shea and remain part of her life.
Marcereau also said his clients are “devastated” and navigating an “absolutely impossible situation.”
The biological parents’ attorney said they are “heartbroken” as they navigate an “absolutely impossible situation”
Image credits: Tiff Score/Facebook
Following the public disclosure of the embryo mix-up, the Longwood-based clinic shut down all operations last month.
According to court documents, Score and Mills created and stored three viable embryos at the facility.
One of their biological embryos was used in an earlier transfer procedure that, unfortunately, resulted in a miscarriage.
The couple expected to have their second embryo implanted in March 2025. Instead, the clinic mistakenly implanted a South Asian couple’s embryo, which resulted in the birth of baby Shea.
Image credits: Tiff Score/Facebook
Tiffany and Steven’s actual second biological embryo remains completely unaccounted for.
However, the clinic did locate one final frozen embryo registered under the couple’s names, which they have since transferred to a new, secure fertility facility.
The couple’s new medical provider is currently conducting genetic parentage testing on the embryo.
Both the biological and birth parents have reached a mutual agreement to remain involved in baby Shea's life
Image credits: Tiff Score/Facebook
Given the previous clinic’s history of laboratory errors, the couple cannot be certain the embryo actually belongs to them until the DNA test results are returned.
Judge Margaret Schreiber, who is presiding over the case, ruled that the couple’s lawsuit against the Fertility Center of Orlando will remain open while the genetic testing is completed.
Their attorney, Mara Hatfield, said during the June 15 court hearing that the couple wants the lawsuit to provide answers and compensation for “the expenses they have incurred and the severe emotional trauma that they endured and will continue to experience.”
In their lawsuit, the Florida couple stated that Shea “is completely innocent and so undeserving” of the lifelong consequences of the medical error.
“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.”
While the medical malpractice and negligence lawsuit against the clinic remains active, a date for the next hearing has not yet been scheduled.
“This appears to be 4 adults making an appropriate compromise to an unfortunate mistake,” wrote one user online
