L.R.
Yes, as someone else posted -- I wouldn't tell her to just "trust in God" because if anything happens again, she's going to be so confused and even more upset that God didn't pay attention.
Please let the girls sleep in your room for as long as they need to. Please do NOT be a "fierce mama" as someone suggested and lock the bedroom door to keep your child out! That gives your child the message that when she is scared she cannot depend on you to be there for her -- entirely the wrong message and one that will teach her not to come to you later with other fears. So you lose some sleep for a while. Her ability to trust and to be happy in her own home is more important than your getting great sleep for a time.
A break-in would be very upsetting to children this age -- they are both exactly at the age where they are becoming much more aware that the world is not always safe and not always fair, and this break-in has really heightened that knowledge for them. Give them a lot of time and patience. Remember, it's been only a month since the break-in and to them it probably feels like yesterday.
I would give both girls more opportunities to take back some control and feel more empowered inside their own house. Do both of them know how to operate the alarm system? Do they know what happens if it goes off? (For instance, that the system calls the police immediately, and/or it makes a loud noise that will scare off intruders, etc.). I'd show them the system in detail and explain how it works. I'd get motion sensor lights for outside the house and show them those. Take both girls around each night to lock up and if you don't have chains on the doors, put them on in front of the girls, and let the girls be in charge of locking the chains --they can see, with a chain, that it is blocking access, and the visual of that may give them more comfort than a bolt they can't really see working.
If the burglars came in through a window: You can buy stick-on alarms to put on window glass or frames; these go off if the glass or frame is rattled at all. Buy some and let the girls stick them on and set them and test them too, by tapping the window pane. They'll see that the alarms really do make a loud noise that would scare off any burglar.
As you do your nightly rounds with the girls locking up and setting the alarm, don't make a huge deal of it but treat it as a routine, then give them both lots of comfort at bedtime, favorite stories, etc.
They need to feel they can control things a little, and teaching them about the alarms in a positive way while putting in some very visible chain locks and window alarms could help. "OK, girls, great job, you've chained the doors, now let's go read!" Be upbeat and don't dwell on the locking up but do make clear they are in charge and doing their part to help the whole family.
One thing -- was the break-in rare? Can you check with local cops to see if perhaps this was a case of a group that goes from city to city breaking in and then moves on? Some years back, our cars had hubcaps stolen (twice in two weeks!) and the local police let everyone know that this was done by a gang that moved all over the East Coast stealing car parts to order -- in other words they would probably not be back. That information gave some comfort to my daughter at the time. But these thieves did not enter our house and I can see how traumatizing that would be (for you, too, mom). But possibly the cops can give you some information that would help the girls, and you, cope with this better.
Meanwhile -- let your girl cling to you for a while longer. She really needs to now. Move her pallet or little bed closer to yours and keep one hand on her as she falls asleep if that helps her stay in her own bed in your room. But please don't deny her your bed any time soon.
