After a lengthy investigation it turns out to be a problem with the fragment manager.
When using a construct like the one above the fragment transaction to reattach the fragment to the page list is silently discarded. It is basically the same problem that causes a
java.lang.IllegalStateException: Recursive entry to executePendingTransactions
when trying to alter the fragments inside the FragmentPager.
The same solution, as for problems with this error, is also applicable here. When constructing the FragmentStatePagerAdapter supply the correct child fragment manager.
Instead of
viewPager.setAdapter(new SimpleFragmentStatePagerAdapter(getFragmentManager(),mParentString));
do
viewPager.setAdapter(new SimpleFragmentStatePagerAdapter(getChildFragmentManager(),mParentString));
See also: github