_cq_childEditConfig.xml adding non-existent node to content path

[sshearer]

In order to prevent authors from deleting parsys that are contained within a custom column control component, I have added a _cq_childEditConfig.xml file. However, after adding this file, I intermittently see the following error message when I click on the parsys in the column control component:

The final node in the path "section_control" does not exist. I was not seeing this error before adding the _cq_childEditConfig.xml file.

Here is the code for the _cq_childEditConfig.xml file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<jcr:root xmlns:cq="http://www.day.com/jcr/cq/1.0" xmlns:jcr="http://www.jcp.org/jcr/1.0"
    cq:actions="[edit]"
    jcr:primaryType="cq:EditConfig">
</jcr:root>

Following are the files contained in the column control component (called section control here, per the client's request):

Any idea why the childEditConfig file would be adding that node to the content path? Or, most ideally, how to prevent it from adding a non-existent node and causing that error?