A Florida couple at the center of an IVF mix-up has reached a custody agreement that keeps them as the baby’s permanent parents, court records show. The case began after genetic testing identified the child’s biological parents, and the couple is still suing t
By the time the paperwork was filed. the question that haunts many IVF families was no longer theoretical for Tiffany Score and Steven Mills. Their child. Shea. was tied to different genetic parents than the couple who conceived through IVF—and now. court records show they will stay the baby’s permanent custodial parents.
The agreement was filed in court on June 12, after Score and Mills reached a deal with Shea’s biological parents earlier this month. Shea’s biological parents are identified in court records only as Patient 004 and have chosen to remain anonymous.
Court documents state the parties “have come to a mutually devised custody agreement.” Under that deal, Score and Mills will “continue as the permanent custodial parents of their daughter.”
Shea was born on Dec. 11 after Score underwent IVF at the Fertility Clinic of Orlando in April 2025. The couple says the child appeared to be a different race than them—Score and Mills are both white—and it set off a chain of genetic testing that later clarified Shea’s origins. In April, couples at the fertility center were tested to determine Shea’s genetic parents.
DNA results later showed Shea is 100% South Asian. The biological parents’ identities were then identified in the court record through that genetic testing process.
Score and Mills have also filed a lawsuit. They are suing the clinic, IVF Life Inc., and Dr. Milton McNichol, the doctor who ran the practice, alleging negligence.
In a statement provided earlier in April, the couple said: “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.”
With custody settled in court, the couple’s next focus is where the embryos went.
They are now trying to determine what happened to the embryos that were supplied to the clinic. Court filings and the couple’s concerns center on the possibility that other patients may have had the embryos implanted. may have become pregnant. or may already be raising one or more biological children tied to those embryos.
The lawsuit asks the clinic to provide free genetic testing for all patients and children whose births resulted from embryo implantation during the past five years—the period that includes the time the clinic had Score and Mills’ embryos in its possession.
The fertility clinic’s situation has also been part of the backdrop. Earlier this year, the clinic told patients it would be closing. A new clinic, CNY Fertility, would open in its place, though the clinic did not state a reason for the closure.
After the custody agreement, attorneys and parties tied to the IVF case remain in dispute over the broader questions behind the alleged mix-up. USA 24 News has contacted IVF Life Inc., attorneys for Score and Mills, Shea’s biological parents, and Dr. Milton McNichol for comment.
IVF mix-up Florida custody Fertility Clinic of Orlando IVF Life Inc Milton McNichol genetic testing embryo implantation CNY Fertility negligence lawsuit