Family who sued IVF clinic for delivering someone else’s child make striking deal with biological parents
A family who sued an IVF clinic after they learned they'd been given someone else's child have reached a deal with the baby's biological parents.
Florida couple Tiffany Score and Steven Mills went through several rounds of IVF before Tiffany gave birth to their daughter, who they named Shea, before it became apparent the child wasn't biologically theirs.
While the couple are white, the baby that Tiffany gave birth to appeared to be 'a racially non-Caucasian child' and though the couple have said they've 'bonded with their baby' they believed they had a 'moral obligation' to find the girl's biological parents.
It was found that the baby was 100 percent South Asian, and had no genetic relation to Tiffany or Steven.
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Score said in a Facebook post back in February that the ordeal was 'an impossible and deeply frustrating situation'.
She said of their daughter: "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.
"We are completely obsessed with her smiles and giggles and look forward to more milestones: reading books, ponytails, taking her to the beach, etc. The love we have for her is indescribable and nothing short of the love we would have for our own genetic child."
The New York Post reports that they've successfully tracked down the baby's biological parents, but they will remain Shea's 'permanent' parents after reaching an agreement with them.
They report that court documents indicate the couple have 'come to a mutually devised custody agreement', and part of that agreement is that Tiffany and Steven 'continue as the permanent custodial parents of their daughter'.
The couple said: "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."
"I’m glad the parties have reached an agreement while this child is relatively young," Circuit Court Judge Margaret Schreiber said, according to the Orlando Sentinel.
The identities of Shea's biological parents have not been revealed in order to protect their privacy, and the couple's lawyer Jack Scarola said his clients were 'committed' to respecting that.
He said the couples had started building 'a relationship of friendship and trust', and that Tiffany and Steven have chosen a different IVF clinic to handle any future IVF treatments they have.
The couple had three embryos frozen with the clinic, one of which was implanted in Tiffany before she had a miscarriage, another has been moved to another clinic and the whereabouts of the third are unknown.
Per NBC, the legal representative for Shea's biological parents, Rob Marcereau, has said they 'intend to remain a part of this child’s life, while recognising the impossible situation that both families have been placed in, through no fault of their own'.
As for the lawsuit against their previous IVF clinic for allegedly implanting the wrong embryo, they told a judge they'd received information which 'revealed laboratory-clinic errors' which they hope will progress their case. Results are expected back in six weeks.
The clinic itself had previously announced it would be closing, while progress in the lawsuit is awaiting the results of genetic testing that is being done on the embryo that has been moved to a new IVF clinic.
The Fertility Center of Orlando told ABC in January: "We will continue to assist in any way that we can regardless of the outcome of the investigation."
Topics: US News
Joe Harker