Parent Package Variables And SQL Package Store

Hello All,
I have a Master Package which calls a group of other packages out on the SSIS Package Store using parent / child and a number of variables. These seem to work when passing various audit information (audit key, record counts, etc) but when I try to pass a variable for the connection string and assign it via an expression to the connection manager, I get the Master Package writing to the correct database and the children package writing to their "default" database which is supplied as the default value in the variables which should be populated by the parent task.

i.e., I end up with my master package audit information in database a and child package audit and transactions in database b, even though the packages associated with these transactions are supposed to be reading the connection string from a parent variable. Any clues or suggestions?

Edit: It is still passing along the correct parent audit information and record counts, it's just not connecting to the correct database by the variables holding the connect string

Thanks for your time.