Hope For Tomorrow

My name is Esperanza (Hope) Delgado I'm 32 years old, I'm a Domestic Abuse Survivor from New Orleans ,La I'm a Mother of two beautiful little girls, a long time french quarter service industry employee and a hard working single parent.

here is my story...

11 1/2 years ago I was in a relationship that took an abusive turn and even became violent on numerous occasions. These events led up to me being kidnapped and held against my will for up to 3 days which he served 3 years for. After his release from prison I ended up being stalked he found me at a local Walmart in which a high speed car chase ensued which led to him wrecking me into a vacant apartment while firing a weapon at me striking the building. In that time frame Ive had a total of 11 protective Orders over 20 incident reports involving him trying to kidnap and kill me. He was charged and sentenced to 10 years flat time. I Received a Protection Order which never expires but this was a non factor in my violent situation because after serving 6 years he escaped from prison and was found around my place of employment thankfully the U.S Marshalls had me and my family in protective custody, he was then sentenced to 3 years among all his prison terms he has broken my protection order from prison a total of 5 times. He is extremely violent and highly dangerous threat to me and my family. To my dismay he was released at midnight 8/10/22 . With the signing of Act 208 by Govoner Edwards, it allowed this habitual violent offender to be released 3 1/2 years earlier than expected without even giving me a 20 day notice this man has tried to kill me over 20 occasions threatened the life of my kids and family. He destroyed who I was, the PTSD will never go away it took me so long to find peace and solitude in my life as an abuse survivor and now he is roaming free near my and my family's neighborhood once again . I have been robbed of my time as a victim to get ready for his release. To tell someone in my situation sorry won't fix it, the laws in fact need to be changed. By not making the necessary changes to the laws its giving violent offenders more rights than victims! Having me to just disappear from my life I've worked so hard for, to leave my life behind running and hiding as I did so many years ago. I'm outraged at the way victims of domestic violence are treated with so little care. I've walked away from my home I worked so hard leaving a mortgage behind . Leaving my job I love so much they were like family. Leaving my family without a trace because no one can know my location. Taking my kids comfortable happy life and flipping it upside. I've been ripped away from everything that I worked so hard for I'm losing so much my kids are losing so much it's so unjust and I was so unprepared!! I had 3 1/2 years taken from me and my children's future plans leaving me with the choice to make a new life plan in the blink of an eye because of this law it was either that or decide to stay and be hurt or even killed as he has threatened to do so many times before.

I choose the name hope for tomorrow because without hope I wouldn't be alive today. I am a victim yes, but I am also a strong survivor and I will always have hope for a better tomorrow. Starting over is never easy but I do understand how necessary it is when your family's safety that is in the midst of it. Thank you for taking time out to hear my story and hopefully it can serve as wake up call to the many other women and young lady's that find themselves in situations such as mine because a lot of them don't get a chance to tell their story. I appreciate any help me and my girls can get as it helps us rebuild our life that was stolen from us so abruptly.