Who are Colin Kaepernick's adoptive parents Rick and Teresa? New series highlights NFL star's background

Colin Kaepernick's life has been well-documented so far, especially when he became one of the biggest faces in the movement against police brutality in 2016, taking a knee during the United States national anthem to bring attention to the issue he was trying to tackle.

A new Netflix series has gone deep into Kaepernick's life, including his adoption as a five-week-old baby. Colin in Black & White, which premiered on October 29, gives a closer look into the Kaepernick family, which is headlined by Rick and Teresa Kaepernick, adoptive parents of the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback.

Colin Kaepernick's adoptive parents recall day of adoption

Teresa and Rick Kaepernick are a couple with two more kids, a boy named Kyle and a girl named Devon. They decided to adopt another kid after losing two other sons, named Lance and Kent, to a heart defect.

Kaepernick's birth mom, Heidi Russo, is a 52-year-old nurse who lives in Denver, Colorado. She left Colin for adoption when she was only 19, unmarried and broke, and gave him to another nurse, Teresa.

Colin then met his adoptive parents on a December 1987 day in a Wisconsin attorney's office. His mother told ESPN in a feature story in 2013 about how she felt the day she adopted the future quarterback:

"I'll never forget that day," says Teresa. "They brought him in an infant carrier and set him down. The birth mother [Russo] was there. I looked at her and she nodded and I just picked him up out of the carrier. The minute I picked him up, I just cried. We gave her a big hug. And she needed a couple more minutes. And then we left."

Colin Kaepernick's dad, Rick, also told ESPN about how he felt about the adoption process:

"I know it's not usually that smooth with adoptions, but it was. Colin never had any adoption issues at all. The only difference is his skin is a little bit browner than ours."

In another piece for ESPN, this time in 2017, Kaepernick's parents made a public statement about how they supported Colin's protests against police brutality against black people:

"Colin is carrying a heavy load and following a difficult path that he truly believes in. He is putting his entire future and possibly his life on the line for those beliefs. As his parents, it pains us to read articles and tweets saying that his family does not support him; this could not be further from the truth. We want people to know that we are very proud of our son and admire his strength and courage in kneeling for the rights of others."

The couple lived in Wisconsin until Colin was four years old. They moved to California, where they live until today.

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