ValueChangeListener not firing when iterator set to refresh=never

Question

I have an iterator that I have recently added a child node to. This child node is tied to a view object without a backing entity. The fields in that view can contain user supplied data that I persist through a stored procedure. This mechanism works great accept when the page is refreshed. When that happens the fields in the child node are lost due to the view being reexecuted.
To fix this problem, I thought I could set the iterator to refresh=”never” and then programmatically refresh it when I need to. This solution appears to work but with one small problem, a valueChangeListener in one of the parent iterator fields fails to execute when it is supposed to.
It is very weird. I can remove the refresh=”never” from the iterator and the valueChangeListener functions properly, but if I add it back, it fails to get called. I have compared the html source on the browser and the element is generated the same in both instances, so it is definitely some issue on the server side.
Anyone ever run into a similar problem?
<af:table rows="#{bindings.ItemCountrySystemsVO.rangeSize}"
          emptyText="#{bindings.ItemCountrySystemsVO.viewable ? \'No rows yet.\' : \'Access Denied.\'}"
          var="row"
          value="#{bindings.ItemCountrySystemsVO.treeModel}">
   <af:selectBooleanCheckbox  id="selectDesc"
                              value="#{row.CheckBox}"
                              autoSubmit="true"
                              immediate="true"
                              valueChangeListener="#{itemItemCountryDataActionBean.onChangeSystemDescCheckBox}" />
<iterator id="ItemCountrySystemsVOIterator" RangeSize="10"
              Binds="ItemCountrySystemsVO" DataControl="RMSItemAMDataControl" Refresh="never"/>
<tree id="ItemCountrySystemsVO" IterBinding="ItemCountrySystemsVOIterator">
      <AttrNames>
        <Item Value="Item"/>
        <Item Value="CountryId"/>
        <Item Value="SystemCd"/>
        <Item Value="Status"/>
        <Item Value="StatusDate"/>
        <Item Value="PrimarySupp"/>
        <Item Value="CheckBox"/> 
      </AttrNames>
      <nodeDefinition DefName="od.adf.mp.datamodel.views.item.ItemCountrySystemsVO"
                      id="ItemCountrySystemsVONode">
        <AttrNames>
          <Item Value="Item"/>
          <Item Value="CountryId"/>
          <Item Value="SystemCd"/>
          <Item Value="Status"/>
          <Item Value="StatusDate"/>
          <Item Value="PrimarySupp"/>
          <Item Value="CheckBox"/> 
        </AttrNames>
        <Accessors>
          <Item Value="ItemCountrySystemsLangVO"/>
        </Accessors>
      </nodeDefinition>
      <nodeDefinition DefName="od.adf.mp.datamodel.views.item.ItemCountrySystemsLangVO"
                      id="ItemCountrySystemsLangVONode">
        <AttrNames>
          <Item Value="Item"/>
          <Item Value="System"/>
          <Item Value="Lang"/>
          <Item Value="LangDescription"/>
          <Item Value="CountryId"/>
          <Item Value="ItemDescription"/>
          <Item Value="OrigItemDescription"/>
        </AttrNames>
      </nodeDefinition>
    </tree>

Answer 1

Using the refresh condition was definitely the better approach and it worked great. Unfortunately not refreshing the parent iterator did not prevent the reexecuting of the child node. I am at a loss on how to prevent this from happening. I am at a loss to explain why the reexecuting of the child view object happens at all when the parent hasn't changed.
Any help is appreciated.