Parents who genetically conceived a girl, born to another couple due to an embryo swap during an in vitro fertilization (IVF) procedure in Florida, United States, have expressed deep regret following a court settlement in which they renounced custody of the child.
Rob Marcereau, a lawyer representing the genetic parents of Shea, a six-month-old baby, said his clients are “devastated” by the situation, but also understand the anguish of the couple who carried the pregnancy to term. He added that the decision not to fight for custody was a painful step.
Aiming to spare the girl from prolonged suffering, the biological parents decided not to pursue a legal battle, even revealing, through Marcereau, that they would prefer to have fought for her. This choice highlights the immense moral and emotional dilemma in cases of fertilization error, where the child’s well-being takes precedence over genetic ties.
Tiffany Score and Steven Mills committed to being the child’s “final” parents, after entering into a “consensual custody agreement” with Shea’s biological parents the previous week.
Tiffany and Steven are currently filing a lawsuit against the Fertility Center of Orlando and its chief reproductive endocrinologist, Milton McNichol, over allegations of incorrect embryo implantation in April 2025. The lawsuit began in January of the current year.
The couple, both of white ethnicity, found the embryo exchange failed after Score gave birth to Shea on December 11, 2025, a baby whose ethnic origin was not Caucasian.
DNA testing later confirmed that Shea had 100% South Asian ancestry.
At first, Tiffany and Steven stated that they were open to giving Shea to her biological parents for adoption, however, they reconsidered and decided to fight for custody of the child.
Shea’s biological parents would have preferred to raise the child as their own daughter, but were aware that “it would be an extremely complex legal dispute,” as Marcereau detailed.
Jack Scarola, the lawyer representing Tiffany and Steven, assured that his clients “are committed” to respecting the privacy of Shea’s biological parents, who have kept their identities protected until now.
Concern about the whereabouts of the couple’s original embryos
Despite the custody agreement, another concern persists for the couple: the fate of their own frozen embryos and the possibility of having a biological child living in another family. Collecting their eggs and sperm resulted in one viable male and two female embryos, which were kept frozen and stored throughout the period.
“It is possible that their male embryo is still somewhere. They have been informed that an embryo is in storage, but there is still no confirmation that it is in fact theirs,” Scarola highlighted.
In April, the Fertility Center announced its closure and the opening of a new clinic in the same location.