diff --git a/gio/gschema-compile.c b/gio/gschema-compile.c
index 0576ce8fb..f5d4796d5 100644
--- a/gio/gschema-compile.c
+++ b/gio/gschema-compile.c
@@ -111,6 +111,28 @@ start_element (GMarkupParseContext  *context,
 
           return;
         }
+      else if (strcmp (element_name, "child") == 0)
+        {
+          const gchar *name, *schema;
+
+          if (COLLECT (STRING, "name", &name, STRING, "schema", &schema))
+            {
+              gchar *childname;
+
+              childname = g_strconcat (name, "/", NULL);
+              
+              if (!g_hash_table_lookup (state->schema, childname))
+                gvdb_hash_table_insert_string (state->schema, childname, schema);
+
+              else
+                g_set_error (error, G_MARKUP_ERROR,
+                             G_MARKUP_ERROR_INVALID_CONTENT,
+                             "<child name='%s'> already specified", name);
+
+              g_free (childname);
+              return;
+            }
+        }
     }
   else if (strcmp (container, "key") == 0)
     {
diff --git a/gio/gsettings.c b/gio/gsettings.c
index f08ee1296..b6d577eec 100644
--- a/gio/gsettings.c
+++ b/gio/gsettings.c
@@ -745,12 +745,27 @@ GSettings *
 g_settings_get_child (GSettings   *settings,
                       const gchar *name)
 {
-  gchar *child_schema;
+  GVariant *child_schema;
+  gchar *child_path;
+  gchar *child_name;
   GSettings *child;
 
-  child_schema = g_strconcat (settings->priv->schema_name, ".", name, NULL);
-  child = g_object_new (G_TYPE_SETTINGS, "schema", child_schema, NULL);
-  g_free (child_schema);
+  child_name = g_strconcat (name, "/", NULL);
+  child_schema = g_settings_schema_get_value (settings->priv->schema,
+                                              child_name, NULL);
+  if (child_schema == NULL ||
+      !g_variant_is_of_type (child_schema, G_VARIANT_TYPE_STRING))
+    g_error ("Schema '%s' has no child '%s'\n",
+             settings->priv->schema_name, name);
+
+  child_path = g_strconcat (settings->priv->path, child_name, NULL);
+  child = g_object_new (G_TYPE_SETTINGS,
+                        "schema", child_schema,
+                        "path", child_path,
+                        NULL);
+  g_variant_unref (child_schema);
+  g_free (child_path);
+  g_free (child_name);
 
   return child;
 }