diff --git a/src/main/java/eu/siacs/conversations/xml/Element.java b/src/main/java/eu/siacs/conversations/xml/Element.java
index f97e87842218d187f2a8440c5075ee8819e5ba4d..9e7f1435387a056d200d369ffb458ef1384217c5 100644
--- a/src/main/java/eu/siacs/conversations/xml/Element.java
+++ b/src/main/java/eu/siacs/conversations/xml/Element.java
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ public class Element implements Node {
 	}
 
 	public Element findChild(String name, String xmlns) {
-		for (Element child : this.children) {
+		for (Element child : getChildren()) {
 			if (name.equals(child.getName()) && xmlns.equals(child.getAttribute("xmlns"))) {
 				return child;
 			}
@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@ public class Element implements Node {
 
 	public Element findChildEnsureSingle(String name, String xmlns) {
 		final List<Element> results = new ArrayList<>();
-		for (Element child : this.children) {
+		for (Element child : getChildren()) {
 			if (name.equals(child.getName()) && xmlns.equals(child.getAttribute("xmlns"))) {
 				results.add(child);
 			}