The lives of my friend and her children (5, 8, 11 and 15 years old) took an unexpected turn on Saturday the 6th July when the kids father broke his bail restrictions and instead of collecting the kids for a day out attacked mum and three daughters with a knife. The older son was lucky enough to escape unharmed. Their father has since been charged with 4 x attempted murder.

The four victims suffered from multiple stab wounds with the eldest girl and mum being hurt significantly. All four were taken to a major London trauma hospital and underwent surgery during the first few days after the incident. All remained in hospital for 11 days and were then discharged with further rehabilitation and/ or surgery planned.

Although the physical recovery seems to have made a good start, emotionally there has been a high price to pay and long term counselling will be needed for all children as well as mum.

Unfortunately there has also been a massive financial and practical effect for all family members. Although the police and Enfield social workers have been a great support and the family have been placed in temporary accommodation. As it will not be possible for them to return to their home because of psychological reasons, there has been a massive knock on effect.

Where the home is currently still a crime scene mum and children did not have access to their belongings until almost two weeks after the incident and even now only have a few of their own things in the temporary home. I'm speaking about things that make a house a home such as clothes, bedding, towels, toys, furniture, as well as household appliances such as a tv, hoover, iron etcetera. The necessary purchases of these essential items have placed a massive strain on their finances.

In regards to the future, the family will have to find permanent housing which will be tricky because, even though mum works full time, they are in receipt of some housing benefit to pay part of the rent. The move will also require a significant amount of money that mum does not have available under the circumstances.

The children are adamant that in addition too losing their home and trust in their father, they do not also want to loose their friends and teachers and therefore want to remain in their schools. From the start of the school year travel from the temporary accommodation to school and back will be much more complicated and as the family does not have access to a car they will have to travel by public transport early morning to start their school day on time.

Although the support from people known and unknown to the family has been heart warming and whilst the media coverage has now settled down, there is a long way for them to go and a massive financial strain put upon them.

Where many people have said they'd like to help out but may not know how,

I'm hoping to raise some very much needed funds to support the family through the time ahead.

This would make a massive difference as it means mum does not need to worry as much about the financial impact this incident has on the family, it may make their lives in the near future slightly easier as it might enable them to replace items damaged during the attack that they can never get back . It may also mean that some money can be put towards funding the move to permanent housing.

Please know that all your support, even small contributions, will be hugely appreciated by the family.