A Florida couple finds themselves entangled in an emotional dilemma after discovering their newborn, conceived through IVF, is biologically unrelated to them. Now, they are fervently hoping to retain custody of the child after her genetic parents have come forward.

Tiffany Score and Steven Mills joyfully welcomed a baby girl, Shea, into their family last December, following treatments at the Fertility Clinic of Orlando.

However, post-birth genetic testing revealed an unexpected twist: Shea was not their biological daughter.

In response, the couple filed a lawsuit against the clinic and their fertility specialist, Dr. Milton McNichol, in January, citing negligence. Court documents obtained by the Daily Mail outline their legal actions.

Within their legal complaint, Score and Mills demanded that McNichol and the IVF facility assist in reuniting Shea with her biological parents and also locate their own missing embryos.

This Tuesday, genetic test results pinpointed another couple, identified in court documents as Patient 004, as Shea’s biological family.

Score and Mills previously issued a statement saying they felt they had a ‘moral obligation’ to find Shea’s genetic parents, but have now said they want to keep raising her as their own.

‘The results of testing delivered to us yesterday confirm that our baby’s genetic parents have been identified,’ the couple told the Daily Mail in a statement through their attorney.

Genetic testing has now identified the biological parents of Tiffany Score and Steven Mills’s infant daughter Shea

The Mills previously issued a statement saying they felt they had a ‘moral obligation’ to find Shea’s genetic parents, but have now said they want to keep raising her as their own

The couple welcomed Shea into their lives in December 2025 after having received treatment at the Fertility Clinic of Orlando (pictured)

‘This ends one chapter in our heartbreaking journey, but it raises new issues that will have to be resolved. In addition, 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 today as it was on the day our daughter was born, we will love and will be this child’s parents forever.’

The couple are respecting the privacy of Shea’s genetic parents, who have not been named publicly at this time.

It is unclear if the couple, who according to their lawsuit have developed an ‘intensely strong emotional bond’ with Shea, will get to keep custody of the child.

They previously said in a statement: ‘We love our little girl, and if possible, we would hope to be able to continue to raise her ourselves with confidence that she won’t be taken away from us.’

Photos shared on Score’s Facebook page depict a seemingly happy family-of-three. The couple and Shea are seen smiling and enjoying each other’s embraces.

The new mother said in a post that although their situation is ‘impossible and deeply frustrating,’ she and Mills are not angry.

Photos shared on Score’s Facebook page, depict a seemingly happy family-of-three

It is unclear if the couple, who according to their lawsuit have developed an ‘intensely strong emotional bond’ with Shea, will get to keep custody of the child

After genetic testing identified Shea’s biological parents, Score (pictured with her daughter) and Mills issued a statement vowing that they ‘will love and will be this child’s parents forever’

‘What we are feeling right now isn’t anger, it’s gratitude. Gratitude and joy for our healthy, beautiful baby girl. Gratitude that we get to hold her, kiss her, and love her,’ she wrote.

‘She is the light of our lives and the one beautiful thing that has come from all of this. No matter how or why this happened, she is ours in every way that matters. The moments we share with her are everything.

‘We are so overwhelmed by the support we have received as we continue to seek answers about our own embryos, if they still exist, or if we may have biological children somewhere in the world.’ 

Score had her eggs removed and joined with Mills’s sperm through in vitro fertilization six years ago. Their embryos were subsequently frozen, the lawsuit said.

She had an embryo transfer on February 2025, which failed, and a second one April 7 that same year, according to the complaint.

Embryos are stored in labelled straws before being slipped into a petri dish for rehydration and placed in an incubator to be monitored one to two hours, the filing said. Afterwards, an embryo is implanted into the patient.

The couple were contacted by a patient who had an embryo transfer at the Fertility Clinic of Orlando on the same day as the couple after seeing media reports about the couple’s fertility mix-up, the complaint said.

That patient, whose last name is similar to the Mills’s, told the couple that she too had undergone IVF and welcomed a baby in December.

Tiffany Score underwent an embryo transfer in February 2025, which failed. The requisition records for the transfer had a straw labeled ‘Tiffany Score #1’ 

 The second transfer on April 7, 2025 used a straw labeled ‘Tiffany Score #2’

Steven Mills and Tiffany Score during her pregnancy with their non-biological daughter Shea

The families shared photographs of their children, with the complaint noting that woman and Shea had similar complexions.

Jack Scarola, an attorney for the Mills, confirmed to the Daily Mail that the patient who approached the couple is not Patient 004.

‘There is no reason to believe that her baby is the genetic child of our clients,’ he added. 

Scarola said there are still ‘remaining questions about the fate of Tiffany and Steven’s unaccounted for embryos.’

‘In addition, the safe transfer, confirmation of identity, and protection of the single remaining embryo the clinic attributes to our clients are still pending,’ he said. 

His co-counsel Mara Hatfield, during a hearing on February 18, told the court that it is likely the embryo mix-up happened six years ago during the fertilization process.

She also said it is possible that the mix-up occurred in April 2025 when Score was implanted with an embryo at the clinic. 

The Fertility Clinic of Orlando will be sold to new owners by May 1. Patients were notified of the change via letter, court filings showed. 

The couple sued the clinic and their fertility doctor Milton McNichol for negligence in January

Lawyers for McNichol filed a motion to dismiss their lawsuit which proved unsuccessful.

They said the case should be tossed because: ‘Plaintiffs (1) fail to set forth a valid cause of action against Defendant; and (2) fail to otherwise meet the requirements for emergency and/or preliminary injunctive relief against the Defendant.’

They claimed the couple’s request to locate Shea’s biological parents would result in a violation of other patients’ privacy.

‘Plaintiffs cite no basis in any rule, statute or case which would give this Court any authority to require Defendant to go into patient files and contact patients of his practice who had embryos in storage in the Defendant’s office, to send an unsolicited copy of the Plaintiffs Amended Complaint and a copy of a photograph of the infant Plaintiff, somehow, with no description of how, affording these patients the opportunity to determine whether the infant Plaintiff might be their child or whether these patients may have been the recipient of one of their embryos,’ the filing states.

McNichol still has an active medical license, according to the Florida Department of Health. It is set to expire in January 2028.

McNichol was reprimanded by Florida’s Board of Medicine in May 2024 after an inspection of the clinic in June 2023 revealed several issues.

These reportedly included equipment that ‘did not meet current performance standards,’ not complying with a risk-management agenda and missing medication.

He was fined $5,000 as a result of the offenses.

The Daily Mail has contacted attorneys for McNichol, the Fertility Clinic of Orlando, and Patient 004 for comment.