A Florida couple who discovered they had been implanted with the wrong embryo after their newborn daughter appeared to be of a different race will retain permanent custody of the child. Steven Mills and Tiffany Score reached a custody agreement with the biological parents—identified anonymously as Patient 004—in a court filing last week, part of their lawsuit against the clinic allegedly responsible for the error.
Background of the Case
Last year, Mills and Score used the Fertility Center of Orlando for in-vitro fertilization. After a healthy pregnancy, Score gave birth to their daughter Shea in December 2025. However, the couple, both Caucasian, suspected something was wrong because the baby did not appear to be white. Genetic testing confirmed that Shea was not biologically related to either parent.
Legal Action and Discovery
In January, the couple sued the clinic to identify Shea's biological parents and to pay for genetic testing of other children born to patients, to determine if any of their own embryos had been mixed up. The couple had three embryos stored at the clinic: one resulted in a miscarriage, another was moved to a new facility, and the third remains accounted for, according to the Orlando Sentinel.
In a January 5 letter to the Fertility Center of Orlando, attorney Jack Scarola wrote: “In the absence of the racial disparity that alerted [Mills and Score] to your inexcusable error, the fact and results of the error might be concealed for years or left undiscovered indefinitely.”
Custody Agreement
According to an amended January complaint, Mills and Score had formed an “intensely strong emotional bond” with Shea and wanted to keep her, but also recognized she should be “legally and morally united with her genetic parents.” The details of the custody agreement will remain private, according to the court filing.
Clinic Closure and Other Issues
Following the controversy, the Fertility Center of Orlando shut down on May 20, according to its website. The company also faced unrelated legal troubles, including a medical malpractice and negligence case related to a 2024 surrogate pregnancy where the infant died shortly after birth.
In an April statement obtained by the Orlando Sentinel, Mills and Score said: “Questions about the disposition of our own embryos are still unanswered and are even more unlikely to ever be answered. Only one thing is as absolutely certain as it was on the day our daughter was born – we will love and be this child’s parents forever.”
