A Florida couple has filed a lawsuit against a fertility clinic in Orlando after they realized the baby they’ve been raising wasn’t their own. Tiffany Score was allegedly implanted with another woman’s embryo last year during the in vitro fertilization (IVF) process.
According to Fox 35 in Orlando, the couple welcomed the baby girl in December, but became concerned after noticing that she appeared to be a different ethnicity than either parent. The news outlet reports that the couple wants to raise the baby, but is searching for her biological parents.
“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,” Steven Mills and Tiffany Score said in a statement. “At the same time, we are aware that we have a moral obligation to find and notify her biological parents as it is in her best interest that her genetic parents are provided the option to raise her as their own.”
Mills and Score are suing the Fertility Center of Orlando, as well as a physician, alleging the doctor implanted the wrong embryo, resulting in Score giving birth to a baby who is not genetically hers or her husband’s.
The mother underwent an embryo transfer in April of 2025 before giving birth in December. The lawsuit alleges the Fertility Center of Orlando implanted the wrong embryo five years after the couple had the mother’s embryos frozen.
The lawsuit states that the parents have formed an “intensely strong emotional bond” with the baby after Score carried and delivered the child, which the couple named Shea, according to Fox News.
“Despite the certain knowledge that Shea is not their genetically matched child, the emotional bond grows stronger every minute of every day that Shea remains in their care,” the lawsuit said. “They would willingly keep her in their care; however, for the sake of both Shea and her genetic parents, they recognize that Shea should legally and morally be united with her genetic parents so long as they are fit, able and willing to take her.”
The couple’s attorneys are now seeking an emergency injunction, requiring the clinic to preserve records, notify other potentially affected patients, and begin immediate genetic testing for the clinic’s clients. The lawsuit, obtained by Fox News, states that Mills and Score are asking the clinic to pay for the genetic testing of every child born whose parents had embryos implanted at the clinic during the last five years.
“Of equal concern to the Plaintiffs is the obvious possibility that someone else was implanted with one or more of their embryos and is pregnant with or has been pregnant with and is presently parenting one or more of their children,” the lawsuit stated.
The fertility clinic released a statement to Fox 35, claiming officials are looking into this “error.”
“We are actively cooperating with an investigation to support one of our patients in determining the source of an error that resulted in the birth of a child who is not genetically related to them. Multiple entities are involved in this process, and all parties are working diligently to help identify when and where the error may have occurred. Our priority remains transparency and the well-being of the patient and child involved. We will continue to assist in any way that we can, regardless of the outcome of the investigation.”
Fox 35 spoke to legal experts who said that a child’s legal parents are typically the genetic mother and father, not the birth mother.
.png)
.png)
