Colin Kaepernick Real Parents and How His Family Shaped Up Following Adoption

Kaepernick is not close to his biological parents. He refused to meet his mother Heidi Russo several times.

On the other hand, his African-American dad has always been out of the picture. He abandoned Heidi once he learned about her pregnancy.

When Colin was born, she was in her late teens.

Devoid of a life partner, Heidi was utterly helpless and in no good shape to raise a baby alone. The additional burden of unemployment and financial instability exacerbating her already dire circumstances left her vulnerable.

Heidi had no other choice than to let go of her newborn son. When Colin was only five weeks old, she placed her boy up for adoption.

However, Heidi kept in touch with Kaepernick for most of his formative years, even after Rick and Teresa adopted him. 

Colin Kaepernick Real Mom

Kaepernick’s real mom Heidi is a licensed nurse at Good Samaritan Medical Center. Born in 1969, Heidi is 53 years of age. 

Although her family has lived in the United States for an extended period, Heidi’s guardians Phyllis and James Zabransk, continue to adhere to most of their Italian heritage, as evidenced by their cultural practices.

Later Heidi tied the knot with a man named Heath Russo and took up a residence in Denver, Colorado, floundering in the delights of parenthood with the birth of three kids. 

Moreover, Heidi is co-founder of ‘Linked Thru Love,’ an advocacy group that strives to eliminate stereotypes surrounding adoption.

Together with her close friend Jami Marcantonio, they founded the group intending to educate people on adoption. Additionally, they launched ‘Three Strands,’ a non-profit to support biological mothers.

Besides, Heidi is quite active on social media. Her Twitter account @Heidirn1 has gained 2.4K followers. She also has a Facebook account with 175 followers.

Colin was adopted by his parents Teresa Kaepernick and Rick Kaepernick. They raised him in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, before relocating to Turlock, California, when he was four. 

Rick and Teresa had no plan to adopt a child when they started their family. But after the pair lost two of their newborn sons to congenital heart disease (CHD), they had to reconsider their previous idea of adoption. 

So in late 1987, Rick and Teresa applied for an adoption form in the Lutheran Social Services office. Nevertheless, they received a call one afternoon asking whether they would like to come and visit the facility.

When they saw Colin, they immediately liked him. And after all the papers work was done, the sweet couple took him to their Wisconsin home, where they lived with two biological children, Devon and Kyle. 

During his formative years, Kaepernick demonstrated a multifaceted sporting talent, engaging in football, basketball, and baseball, which attributed to his athletic proficiency.

Colin’s adoptive mom and dad both used to work a 10-5 office job to sustain their home. Teresa is a retired medical staff member who served as a local hospital nurse.

On the other hand, Rick worked as an operations manager for the Hilmar Cheese Company handling day-to-day operations and managing production processes and inventory. 

The two had four biological children, three sons, Kyle, Lance, and Kent, and a daughter Devon. Tragically their two boys, Kent and Lance, passed away.

Kaepernick has five siblings from his adoptive and biological family. Colin has a brother named Kyle and a sister named Devon Kaepernick. 

He shares a very close relationship with them. His birth mum Heidi gave birth to three more children after marrying her husband, Heath.

Michael, Ethan, and Alex are all younger than him. She has uploaded several pictures of them on her socials, including the one on her Facebook cover page where all five were holding hands. 

Additionally, Colin has two other brothers, Lance and Kent, but unfortunately, they are no longer in this world. They perished right after birth due to heart dysfunction.

A six-episode Netflix series, “Colin in Black & White,” premiered on October 29, 2021, chronicles Kaepernick’s teenage years.

The series was co-created by Colin and Ava DuVernay, providing an in-depth and in-depth portrayal of the experiences that shaped Kaepernick’s early life.

Colin Kaepernick is engaged to girlfriend Nessa Diab. They made their relationship public in February 2006.

Nessa is a television personality and radio host. Though the two romantic souls have not married, they welcomed a baby in the fall of 2022 but are still hesitant to reveal the boy’s name.

Their dating rumors began circulating online in 2015 after being spotted several times together. However, the former NFL star kept his love life quiet and did not reveal it to the public until after a year in 2016.

Speaking of his long-term girlfriend, Nessa, is an on-air personality hailed from Egyptian ancestry. Born in Los Angeles, Southern California, Diab had to migrate to Saudi Arabia because of her father’s profession.

She spent most of her childhood in the middle east before returning to the United States to continue her education. Nessa earned an undergraduate degree in mass communications from the University of California, Berkeley.

Following her graduation, she embarked on her media career. She founded Know Your Rights Camp with her beau Colin to uplift Black and Brown communities.