{"id":309548,"date":"2026-06-16T19:28:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T19:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/309548\/"},"modified":"2026-06-16T19:28:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T19:28:10","slug":"florida-couple-reaches-custody-agreement-with-6-month-olds-biological-parents-after-embryo-mixup-at-orlando-facility-wsvn-7news-miami-news-weather-sports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/309548\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida couple reaches custody agreement with 6-month-old\u2019s biological parents after embryo mixup at Orlando facility &#8211; WSVN 7News | Miami News, Weather, Sports"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>ORLANDO, FLA. (WSVN) &#8211; A Florida couple has reached a custody agreement with the <a href=\"https:\/\/wsvn.com\/news\/local\/florida\/orlando-couple-involved-in-ivf-mix-up-says-babys-genetic-parents-have-been-found\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">biological parents<\/a> of a 6-month-old girl following an embryo mixup at a fertility clinic.<\/p>\n<p>According to court documents, Steven Mills and Tiffany Score will keep permanent custody of their daughter, Shea.<\/p>\n<p>The couple, who are white, discovered last year that they weren\u2019t genetically related to Shea after giving birth to her and seeing she is a different ethnicity from them.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTiffany underwent a C-section, and it was a very difficult birth, but ultimately it produced a beautiful little girl. A little girl who much to their surprise had a very different appearance from what they had expected. It became very apparent within a short period of time that the child that they had born was not their child,\u201d said Jack Scarola, the family\u2019s attorney. <\/p>\n<p>The fertilization error occurred at an Orlando clinic. Staff at the clinic implanted what they thought was one of the couple\u2019s embryos, but genetic tests confirmed that they were not Shea\u2019s parents.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShea is an absolutely beautiful little girl. They fell in love with her,\u201d said Scarola. <\/p>\n<p>Despite the custody agreement already settled, a lawsuit remains ongoing against the fertility clinic and doctor. <\/p>\n<p>In January, the clinic said in a statement: \u201cWe will continue to assist in any way that we can, regardless of the outcome of the investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The other viable embryos created by the couple are currently being tested in a new facility. DNA verification expected in six weeks. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis remaining embryo, and that is resolved to the point that we now have it. We plan on testing it,\u201d said the couple\u2019s attorney Mara Hatfield. <\/p>\n<p>The identity of Shea\u2019s biological parents remains confidential.<\/p>\n<p>The couple said that while they will raise Shea on their own, they \u201cintend to continue to foster a relationship of friendship and trust\u201d with her biological parents. <\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.<\/p>\n<p>\tJoin our Newsletter for the latest news right to your inbox<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, FLA. (WSVN) &#8211; A Florida couple has reached a custody agreement with the biological parents of a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":309549,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[139,141,140],"class_list":["post-309548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309548","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=309548"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309548\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/309549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=309548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=309548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=309548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}