Forcibly displaced children and families are among the most vulnerable groups in the world, now with an unprecedented 30 million children displaced by conflict and a peak of 19 million children internally displaced.1 Public health crises, such as the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, highlight the preexisting refugee crisis, placing them at greater mental health risk. Although children are not the highest risk cohort to suffer serious illness from COVID-19,2 pandemic-related policies, health precautions, and psychosocial stressors are potentially damaging for vulnerable children and families such as forcibly displaced youth. Basic public health measures, such as social distancing, hand hygiene, and self-isolation, are difficult to implement in camps, settlements, and homes because of overcrowded living situations, poor access to basic sanitation, and lack of access to health services, leaving displaced children at risk for contracting disease. Many forcibly displaced families are understandably distrusting of government requests for public health measures because they are fleeing governments that are the cause of violence and armed conflict.3 These psychosocial stressors can lead to a worsening of mental health, especially when combined with a history of potentially traumatic events that cause forced migration. In this article, we describe the synergistic impact of government policy responses and psychosocial stress on the mental health of forcibly displaced children and families and recommend risk mitigation strategies to improve safety, psychosocial environments, and mental health for this populations. The term “displaced” will be used for reader ease, with definitions of forcibly displaced persons in Table 1.Displaced children seeking safety face complicated and rapidly changing government responses to migration. Some governments have used the pandemic to exert migration-control policies, citing public health containment measures to prevent the spread of the virus.4 In April 2020, 91% of the world’s population lived in countries with restrictions on newcomers into the country, with 39% of people living in countries that were completely closed to nonresidents.5 With many resettlement, relocation, and repatriation mechanisms suspended, there are no alternatives for refugees and migrants trying to escape.6 Those needing to flee violence now have nowhere to go and add to the already 45.7 million people who are internally displaced.7 Suspended search and rescue operations and border closures leave displaced youth and families stranded, with children facing potential separation from families. Of concern are discriminatory policies against displaced families, with changes in status determination procedures for asylum seekers, redistribution of detainees across facilities, lack of appropriate medical care, and overcrowded and unsanitary immigration detention conditions across the world.8Before the pandemic, displaced children were already vulnerable to mental health problems and psychosocial stressors, with high levels of anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic stress.9 They were managing cultural bereavement (grief from the loss of cultural identity and social systems), traumatic and/or ambiguous loss of loved ones, fractured families with changing roles, acculturative stress, and uncertainty (of safety, housing, and legal status)10 and now have the additional stress of the pandemic. Necessary public health strategies, such as closures of school and afterschool programs and religious and community gatherings, can eliminate normal means of coping and social support. Reduction in nonurgent health care and social services that provide basic social, emotional, and health needs can threaten safety and worsen daily life stressors for children and families globally. Although these restrictions may have been necessary for reducing the transmission of COVID-19, the most vulnerable children, such as those forcibly displaced, are experiencing decreased protections against risk of violence, abuse, and exploitation.11 These psychosocial stressors of disrupted education, family stress, social isolation, increased abuse, and uncertainty about the future can all exacerbate mental health.12All children’s experiences are shaped by the environment in which they are embedded. Socioecological interventions that build on strengthening the communities in which children live, although challenging in humanitarian settings such as refugee camps and detention centers, should be promoted.13 Clinicians can help to improve the social environment for youth and families by engaging with community programs that have the trust of displaced persons. In addition, they can use inclusive communication strategies that address the unique needs of displaced youth and advocate for children’s rights to health and safety, both within the United States and in humanitarian settings (refer to Table 2 for a list of strategies).A growing number of global programs can serve as models to minimize the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on displaced children’s mental health. The United Nations Refugee Agency has implemented multilingual telephone lines and training in psychological first aid and has ensured access to medication to families around the world.14 Whole-family and community approaches to children on the move include mental health and psychosocial support messaging to promote mental health through back-to-school campaigns and child-friendly spaces, disseminate positive parenting tips, share parenting and stress management posters in quarantine camps, and play messages that oppose gender-based violence and provide mental health and psychosocial support through community loudspeakers.15 This pandemic is an opportunity to develop strategic relationships and collaborations in social services, health care, and policy reform to transform the environment in which we receive those forcibly displaced from their homes and provide higher impact and humane care for all children and families.