---
title: Parent and child queries
slug: graph/docs/parent-and-child-queries
docTags: 
createdAt: 2026-07-30T20:30:19.772Z
---

:::hint{type="warning"}
**This feature is deprecated**
The `_children` field is deprecated and is replaced by `_link`. See [Joins with linking](docId\:dERIsBL2GW2inAhZJK9y9). `_children` continues to work throughout 2025.
:::

Use parent-child queries in Optimizely Graph to retrieve a parent document and its related child documents in one request, so you can render hierarchical content (such as a landing page and its blog posts) without chained calls.

When a parent-child relationship exists between GraphQL schemas, create a single query to retrieve parent documents and their children's documents using a special field in the projection called `_children`. With `_children`, formulate the child query with the child schema using arguments similar to regular GraphQL queries.

### Example

The following examples show how a single query returns parent documents alongside their child documents using the `_children` projection. The first uses the `StartPage` schema for the parent and the `BiographyPage` schema for the child.

```graphql
{
  StartPage(locale: en) {
    total
    items {
      _children {
        BiographyPage {
          items { 
            Name
          }
        }
      }
      Name
    }
  }
}
```

### Response

The response below shows the shape Graph returns for the previous query, with the child `BiographyPage` items nested under each `StartPage` parent.

```json
{
  "data": {
    "StartPage": {
      "total": 4,
      "items": [
        {
          "_children": {
            "BiographyPage": {
              "items": [
                {
                  "Name": "Abraham Lincoln"
                }
              ]
            }
          },
          "Name": "Start"
        }
      ]
    }
  },
  "extensions": {
    "requestId": "4b45a5b3-f905-4824-b903-5b9180376837",
    "responseTime": 111
  }
}
```

The next example uses the `BloglistPageType` schema for the parent and the `BlogitemPageType` schema for the child. For every matching parent item in the blog list, Graph retrieves and returns the items for each parent in a single response.

```graphql
{
  BloglistPageType(locale: en, where: {Title: {startsWith: "Optimizely"}}) {
    items {
      Name
      Language
      _children {
        BlogitemPageType(where: {Created: {lt: "2019"}}) {
          items {
            Name
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}
```