A Florida couple who discovered the daughter they welcomed through IVF was not biologically related to either of them has reached a custody agreement with the child's biological parents. Tiffany Score and Steven Mills say they will raise the child, named Shea, as their own.
Score and Mills welcomed Shea in December 2025. After genetic testing confirmed Shea had no biological relationship to them, they filed a complaint in January against the now-defunct fertility clinic IVF Life, Inc., which operated under the name Fertility Center of Orlando before closing in May, according to ABC News.
The custody agreement was filed in Orange County, Florida on June 12. Under the agreement, Score and Mills will remain Shea's custodial parents. The couple said they and Shea's biological parents plan to build and develop a relationship of friendship and trust.
Attorney Jack Scarola, who represents Score and Mills, provided a statement to ABC News describing how the situation reached this point. "Tiffany and Steve recognize the public interest in the details of their IVF experience, and they appreciate the role the news media has played in bringing them and Shea to the point where Shea's genetic parents were able to be identified and fears about Shea's future have been settled," Scarola said.
The identity of Shea's biological parents will remain confidential. Scarola said in a statement: "Tiffany and Steve are committed to respect[ing] the privacy concerns of Shea's genetic parents with whom they have begun and intend to continue to foster a relationship of friendship and trust. They are also committed to protecting Shea from harmful intrusion on her privacy."
In their lawsuit, Score and Mills said they had contracted with the clinic for cryogenic storage of three viable embryos. They alleged the clinic implanted an embryo in March 2025 that was not one of theirs. The couple, who are both white, noted that upon Shea's birth in December 2025, their daughter "displayed the physical appearance of a racially non-Caucasian child," which prompted genetic testing.
Score and Mills are still suing IVF Life, Inc. and Dr. Milton McNichol, who led the clinic before it closed. The couple has also called on the clinic to disclose the lawsuit to all patients who had embryos in storage, in part to determine whether any of those patients may have received one of Score and Mills' embryos.