Comments on: Woman who gave him up for adoption still supports Kaepernick

By: kenzblzd

kenzblzd — Sun, 13 Jan 2013 13:10:41 +0000

I disagree with the majority of the responses here. I think that the mothers decision to leave a son to parents that she met and felt could provide him better life should be commended. Personally I would embrace my mother and thank her.

By: forever9ers

forever9ers — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 07:40:14 +0000

Lets give here some credit for picking the Kaepernicks over three other candidates back in Milwaukee, WI. when she was only 19 years of age, unmarried and likely had no job. If she had kept Colin, with all the life struggles ahead of her, Colin would not have had the support system in place in order to succeed in the form of a steady family life.

By: pdxninerfan

pdxninerfan — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 05:44:54 +0000

Colin was a star in high school. He was a star in Nevada. Now he’s a star in the NFL. I’m betting this woman has been sought out before, and this article has been written before as well.

If she is trying to latch on to his fame, then he has probably seen it years ago and the act is getting tiresome, thus he rejects her.

Perhaps it’s a feeling only adopted children can explain whereby the bond is simply not there. Not my place to comment.

I definitely side with those that say she should stay out of the media and/or politely refuse to comment.

But I definitely give her the benefit of the doubt as well based upon only having seen this article. She did a difficult thing and a positive outcome has resulted from it. I hope she is sincere.

By: edwinmoses

edwinmoses — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 03:45:08 +0000

Who writes these headlines – “Woman who gave him up for adoption still supports Kaepernick.”

Of course she does, it’s still her birth son. The easy thing would have been to have an abortion. She chose the hard way and what was best for him.

By: barbglad

barbglad — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 03:31:39 +0000

How can so many people be so cruel to this mother. I am a birth mother. I have been in groups with others like myself and have known several hundred birth mothers. I have not known one birth mother who did not want to know her child, regardless of the circumstances. If the child is doing well financially or was raised in a rich home it is sometimes worse because that child may look down on his mother. Many birth mothers feel they were lied to and exploited by the adoption process. Most had no idea of the extreme lifelong pain that they would experience. It is natural and normal for her to want to connect with her son. I would only encourage her to speak of her feelings as someone in her situation could enlighten those people like many of those in this blog that have no idea what it is like to lose their child.

By: dretwann

dretwann — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 02:35:26 +0000

People who live in glass houses should not throw stones. But it is most likely that those raking this woman over the coals do so to make them feel better about their own miserable lives. Taking joy in the notion that someone is worse off than they are. Pretty pathetic if you ask me. What amazes me is the ones who are so against her are likely the same people who support the fire bombing of abortion clinics across the country. You all need to get a grip. You have no idea what she went through to make that decision. As for Colin, he should feel grateful as he could have been one of the hundreds of children murdered each year by their teen moms. He had a mom who made the tough choice of recognizing she couldn’t be the parent he and all children deserve.

By: simon94022

simon94022 — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 02:13:45 +0000

The choice she made was better than aborting her child, and better than trying to raise the boy by herself as an unmarried 19 year old.

Russo made the gut-wrenching decision to do what was best for her son by letting him be adopted. None of us know anything else about her, but we should at least respect that.

By: chetbrooks31

chetbrooks31 — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 01:26:02 +0000

Why do people assume that she has only come forward now? It could be that she has been in contact with Colin’s adoptive parents for many years. I would bet that it is the media who sought her out now for comments….. seriously doubt that she just showed up at CBS one day. Let me be clear, I am not defending this lady, just wondering why everyone always assumes the worst.

By: Mr. Wright 212

Mr. Wright 212 — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 22:29:12 +0000

She wouldn’t care if he weren’t in the NFL and famous. I know plenty of 19 year olds who stick it out and raise their children. What did she do, get knocked up by an “unsavory” guy and her family forced her to give him up because of it?

By: bigbill8517

bigbill8517 — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 22:02:39 +0000

I was adopted and never knew any parents but my adoptive parents. They were my parents. However, I always knew that I was adopted, but it didn’t make any difference. I did have a fear that somebody would come and take me away. I had no desire to find out who my birth parents were. My parents were my parents. I have never had any desire for contact with my biological parents. So, if the child doesn’t make contact, why should this mother come out of the woodwork so publicly? She should contact him through a lawyer to see if it is his desire to see her. Let it be his choice.

By: hikohadon

hikohadon — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 20:43:53 +0000

“If she truly supported him and had his best interests at heart, there is no way she goes to the media. He is an adult. He has been given the chance to reconnect with her and chosen not to.”
__________________

Bingo.

This is between her and Colin, not anyone else.

I don’t care if the press came to her or she went to the press, she should’ve kept her mouth shut about this publicly. I’m sure that’s what her bio-son would want.

By: stevebanzai

stevebanzai — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 20:33:14 +0000

I’m assuming everyone realizes this “birth mother” story has been written up at least 8-10 times over the last 5 days.

One of the lines that keeps getting repeated is “Kaepernick hasn’t sought out contact, and Russo said she respected his decision.”

At what point do writers and media outlets respect the same?

Talk about media arm twisting and manipulation on Kaepernick!!!

By: davekva72

davekva72 — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 20:20:54 +0000

I’m not gonna judge this woman based on one story I see on this website. She was a 19 year old when she gave up her baby. She knew she couldn’t support him, so she gave him to somebody who could. She even made sure she met with the people who would be adopting him, to make sure they were the right people to raise her baby. The fact that she’s stayed in touch with the adopted parents tells me that she would still want to be a part of his life regardless of what career path he took.

I don’t know how she ended up in touch with whoever interviewed her, but if I had to guess I would bet money that a reporter found her after finding out Kaepernick was adopted. We’re often quick to label people as media seekers, when most times its the media that seeks people out.

By: steelerben

steelerben — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 20:14:09 +0000

If she truly supported him and had his best interests at heart, there is no way she goes to the media. He is an adult. He has been given the chance to reconnect with her and chosen not to.

I’m not going to jump to the same assumption as many that it is about the money seeing as how she clearly has a relationship with Colin’s real parents, who by all accounts *do* have his best interests at heart. But there is certainly an element of “shine the spotlight on me, too” that doesn’t sit well.

If you have reached out to him time and again and he has chosen not to include you in his life, respect it. If you want to keep contact with the Kaepernicks to make sure Colin knows you are available and interested in a relationship, great. Going through the media to try and “reach him” is disingenuous and counterproductive.

By: lks311

lks311 — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 20:07:54 +0000

She deserves the benefit of the doubt. She’s no ne’er-do-well. She’s a registered nurse and is, apparently self-sufficient. I don’ think the ache you have for your own blood ever goes away.

As someone else above said, she could have just had an abortion at 19 and moved on with here life—to the contrary, she found him an excellent, loving home. Eventually, time heals wounds and they will reconcile.

By: brohamma

brohamma — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 20:02:20 +0000

Good points.. but just remember, if she hadn’t have had any common sense then there is a pretty good chance the guy would’ve never made it out of a, tragically, all-to-common situation.

At least she made sure that the people that would adopt him at 5wks. old had other siblings (their two sons died of heart problems days after they were born before they had a daugheter who survived), were finacially secure and had athletic backgrounds.

It’s easy to point the finger here but she did the right thing in realizing that she couldn’t support the kid instead of letting him get raised on the streets.

By: lleesman725

lleesman725 — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 19:56:33 +0000

It is clear that Yahoo and Jason Cole had no regard for Colin while writing this story. Shame on them.

By: grndizzle

grndizzle — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 19:46:03 +0000

I don’t think it’s a money grab, I read the entire article these excerpts came from. She seen him play when he was with Nevada, and they used to exchange text messages. She cared for the kid for the 1st 6 weeks of his life, and wasn’t even considering giving him up for adoption until she was 8 months pregnant. She has an attachment to him whether you agree with her or not.

She made a decision that was in his best interest, she should be commended for that instead of ridiculed. If he would have grown up in a single parent household in Milwaukee, WI he wouldn’t be where he is today.

By: nickdamjanovic

nickdamjanovic — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 19:45:18 +0000

There’s so much that the Cole article doesn’t and couldn’t possible convey. Neither he nor we have any idea if there’s a backstory that’s different than the one she (Russo) provided. Really not a subject for the rabble (which is us) to be digging into, at least not with the information we have at hand right now.

By: nesuperfan

nesuperfan — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 19:41:44 +0000

I think she is simply proud of her son.
She made an excruciatingg decision to give him up, and where he is now bears that out as a good decision. Most biological parents hope their offspring do well, and many want to know how they are. It is only natural. In this case, the kid happens to be famous, and surely some reporter asked her about the situation, rather than her looking for a reporter.
I hope they meet up, and reconnect. His adoptive mom will always be his mother, but it can’t hurt to have two.

By: jnova80

jnova80 — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 19:41:40 +0000

I’m sure this is a story that Kaepernick wishes would just go away. Seems like something he really doesn’t want to talk/think about, so why keep bringing it up? Oh yeah, the football media loves drama instead of actually talking football.

By: ddmur

ddmur — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 19:41:20 +0000

What is she really trying to accomplish by going public with her wishes? Assuming that she is motivated by nothing other than wanting to establish a relationship with her birth child, is she helping her cause by arguing her case in a way that the entire nation hears her? Is she helping her “son” in his career? The best that can be said of her is that she is so incredibly stupid that she thinks she may be accomplishing something positive. If I were Kaepernick and truly in a quandary as to whether to meet with this woman, her decision to let this become a national story would make my decision easy for me.

By: kane337

kane337 — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 19:39:39 +0000

Did you watch the Ray Lewis “A Football Life” on NFL Network? He grew up without his biological father. Ray wanted to meet him badly and just met him last year. Everyone is different. Maybe one day Colin will want to meet his biological mother. Time will tell.

By: jayman35

jayman35 — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 19:36:36 +0000

As someone who has been adopted, when I first read Jason Cole’s, I got very upset, and felt what many have expressed, that this woman has no business attempting to force a relationship with her son through the media, which I found both offensive and manipulative. I also firmly believe that this is nobody’s business, and is between he and his mother and not for the news media to exploit. When he chooses to establish a relationship with his mother, if ever, it should be in his own time and under his own terms.
However, I also recognize that his mother (who I do not think is motivated to make money as others have suggested) is certainly still suffering the pain of having to give up her son for adoption. The fact that she recognized she was in no position to raise a child and that others could provide deserves credit. Too many people who are ill equipped to parent keep their children and end up destroying their lives when they become adults. I really hope the media will leave this story alone and let him deal with this under his own terms.

By: jamesmbell

jamesmbell — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 19:31:33 +0000

Tough situation for any mother, but the one thing Colin could use in forgiving her is the fact that she could have done what many young, poor and scared women do and gotten an abortion. I know when I was 19 and I got a woman pregnant I would have wanted her to do that. I know its not the right thing to admit, but it is true.

By: kane337

kane337 — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 19:31:04 +0000

The story doesn’t tell how long she has sought out to meet him. Lets not assume its just been since he got a job in the NFL.

By: serude27

serude27 — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 19:28:38 +0000

Reminds me of the Water Boy where his dad wanted to re-unite with him after he saw him on the ESPN.

By: hikohadon

hikohadon — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 19:27:30 +0000

“Yes, there’s always that, but I just stay positive for him,” Russo said. “That’s what is important. That’s what you’re supposed to do as a parent.”
_________________

How would you know?

I don’t have any problem with making the decision to give your child up for adoption, that’s your decision to make. But if you do, you don’t get to call yourself a parent.

The fact that she came forward to the media on this NOW… she’s the feel-sick story of the week.

By: myroncopesflask

myroncopesflask — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 19:24:25 +0000

If you give a child up for adoption and that child repeatedly declines your attempts to contact him/her do what you did when that child was born…Walk Away!!!

By: kate773

kate773 — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 19:23:52 +0000

As the first commenter said, I praise her for making what I’m sure was a very difficult, yet very mature decision. She did the right thing for her baby, I wish more women would do that. However, something about her speaking to the press rubs me the wrong way.