Right to maintain contact with family 119. The assessment of a child’s best interests applies also to whether a child is permitted to maintain personal relations and direct contact with their parents, as far as possible. When separation is judged to be in the best interests of the child and necessary, the child has the right to maintain linkages and relations with their parents and family, including siblings, relatives and persons with whom the child has strong personal relationships, unless it is not in the child’s best interests.234 States should assess the quality of each child’s relationship with their parents in decisions concerning the frequency or length of visits if it is determined to be in the child’s best interest to continue their family relationship.235 Right to information concerning the parents 120. Even when separation is deemed to be in the best interests of a child, the child has the right to information concerning the parents. Thus, the child should be informed, to the extent possible, of the whereabouts of the absent parent “unless the provision of the information would be detrimental to the well-being of the child”.236 Such information should be provided in a language that can be fully understood by the child.237 As summarized earlier, a child, whose separation 234 Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), art. 9(3); Committee on the Rights of the Child, general comment No. 14 (2013), section V, para. A(1)(c). 235 Committee on the Rights of the Child, general comment No. 14 (2013), section V, para A(1)(c). 236 Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), art. 9(4). 237 Committee on the Rights of the Child, Report and Recommendations of the Day of General Discussion on “Children of Incarcerated Parents” (2011), available at www.ohchr.org/ Documents/HRBodies/CRC/Discussions/2011/DGD2011ReportAndRecommendations.pdf, para. 44. is determined to be in his or her best interests, still has the right, to the extent possible, to maintain personal relations and direct contact with both parents on a regular basis, except if such contact is contrary to the child’s best interests.238 Considerations for children separated because of parents’ detention or incarceration 121. Children separated from their parents due to their parents’ detention or incarceration may require additional protection, including from stigmatization.239 To begin with, in cases in which the parents or other primary caregivers are accused of a crime, alternatives to detention should be made available and applied on a case-by-case basis, with full consideration of possible impacts of different sentences on the best interests of the concerned child.240 When detention or imprisonment of a parent cannot be avoided, States should provide support to children to prevent the risk of violence that they may be exposed to owing to the parent’s situation, acknowledging the complementary roles of the criminal justice system, child protection agencies, health, education and social service sectors.241 That may also require States to address the responsibility of the media and to enforce legislation to protect the right to privacy of those children and prevent their stigmatization.242 238 Committee on the Rights of the Child, Report and Recommendations of the Day of General Discussion on “Children of Incarcerated Parents” (2011), para. 33. 239 Ibid., para. 35, citing Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), art. 9(3). 240 Committee on the Rights of the Child, general comment No. 14 (2013), para. 69. 241 A/RES/69/194, para. 23(h). 242 Committee on the Rights of the Child, Report and Recommendations of the Day of General Discussion on “Children of Incarcerated Parents” (2011), para. 36. 55.