A child theme is meant to inherit from its parent while safely overriding specific parts, but that relationship can drift out of sync over time — the parent theme introduces new features or changes its structure through updates, while the child theme’s overrides, written against an older version, quietly stop matching what the parent now actually provides. This drift rarely announces itself with an obvious error — instead, the site simply starts missing out on genuine improvements the parent theme has made, or worse, occasionally displays subtly wrong because an override written for an old structure now interacts unpredictably with a newer one.
Compare your child theme’s version note against the parent’s changelog
Check when your child theme was last actively updated or reviewed, and compare that date against the parent theme’s own changelog to see how many parent updates have shipped since.
A significant gap is a reasonable early sign the two have drifted, and it’s useful context to bring into this before we start.
It’s also worth thinking about whether you’ve noticed anything looking subtly different lately, even something you couldn’t quite pin down, since that vague impression is often an early symptom of exactly this kind of drift. Trusting that instinct, even without being able to name the specific issue, is worth bringing into the conversation. Vague impressions often turn out to be more accurate than they feel in the moment. It’s a useful clue even when it can’t be pinned down precisely. We’ll help figure out exactly what it was pointing at. That’s often the most useful part of the conversation.
Child theme reconciliation with updated parent
Your child theme hasn't kept pace with recent parent theme updates. We reconcile the two so you get new features without losing customisations.
- Full backup taken before we start
- If we can’t fix it, you get your money back
- We never ask for your own password
What we need from you
- Confirmation of which parent theme features you’re hoping to actually gain from this
- Any specific customisations in the child theme you know are especially important
- Access to a staging copy of the site, if one exists, for safe testing
This or something else?
| Your child theme has fallen behind the parent theme’s recent updates | This fix covers it |
| You want Customizer CSS specifically moved into the child theme, not reconciled | Customizer CSS migration to child theme, a different service |
| Hardcoded parent theme edits need relocating into a child theme for the first time | Hardcoded theme edits relocated to child theme, a different fix |
| The child theme is causing an active, visible problem right now | A different, more urgent diagnosis |
| You don’t currently have a child theme at all | A different starting point; worth confirming your actual setup first |
What we do
- Compare the child theme’s current overrides against the parent theme’s latest structure
- Identify overrides that have become outdated, redundant, or incompatible
- Update the child theme to correctly inherit new parent features where beneficial
- Preserve your genuine customisations that remain relevant and intentional
- Test thoroughly on staging to confirm nothing breaks before going live
- Deploy the reconciled child theme once verified
What is included
- A full comparison of child theme overrides against the current parent theme
- Reconciliation of outdated or incompatible overrides
- Preservation of your genuine, still-relevant customisations
- Testing on staging before deploying to the live site
Not included
- Adopting every new parent theme feature regardless of whether you actually want it
- A redesign of your site’s appearance beyond reconciling the theme relationship
- Moving Customizer CSS into the child theme, which is a separate, related service
- Ongoing reconciliation as the parent theme continues to update in future
Questions about this fix
Will I lose my customisations during this reconciliation?
No — preserving what's genuinely still relevant to you is the core point; we only update overrides that have become outdated or incompatible with the current parent theme.
Do I have to adopt every new parent theme feature?
No, we discuss which new features are actually worth adopting for your site rather than applying everything indiscriminately just because it's available.
How often does a child theme need this kind of reconciliation?
There's no fixed schedule, but after several parent theme updates have accumulated, or if you notice something looking subtly off, it's worth checking.
Will this work without a staging site?
Staging is strongly preferable for something touching theme structure this directly, though we can discuss a careful approach if one genuinely isn't available.
What if the parent theme has changed so much reconciliation isn't practical?
We'll tell you plainly if that's the case, and discuss whether a more substantial rebuild makes more sense than patching an relationship that's drifted too far.
Related fixes
If this is the second time this year
A bad update breaking the site is a symptom of updates not being tested first. Care plans run every update on a staging clone before it reaches your live site, which is the actual fix for this happening again.
Your access, your rules
Create a separate admin account for us and delete it when we are done. For anything else, we get in touch and agree a method — never a form field on this site, never by reply to an email.
We back up first, always
Before anything is touched we take a full backup and keep it for 30 days. If a fix goes wrong, we put the site back exactly as it was.
If it is not what you bought
If the problem turns out smaller than what you ordered, we refund the difference. If it is bigger, we stop and send a quote before doing any extra work.
If we cannot fix it
You get back what we received. Diagnosis is on us — you only pay when the problem is actually solved. The payment processor takes its fee before the money reaches us, so we never hold it and it is not ours to return. That is true here as everywhere else.
If it comes back
Reply within seven days of delivery and we put it back on the bench at no cost. The fix is not finished until it holds.
What we are responsible for
If something goes wrong with a fix, our responsibility is limited to what you paid for it. We take a full backup first so mistakes can be undone, and we tell you before doing anything outside what you bought.