The Home Affairs Select Committee questioned representatives from the UK Borders Agency (UKBA), charity Bail for Immigration Detainees (Bid) and The Children's Society's Bedford project on the detention of children.
The committee heard concerns regarding statistics released by UKBA last month.
Addressing the committee, Amanda Shah, policy director at Bid, said: "The statistics reveal the myth that children with families are only detained for very short periods of time.
"They show that nearly one in three children had spent more than a month in detention, contrary to government policy."
Ali Soyei, programme manager of the Bedford project, which works with families held in Yarl's Wood Immigration Detention Centre, added that 60 per cent of families with children are eventually returned to their community.
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