In one example, a method for implementing recovery segments includes sending an application message from a parent process executed by a first computing device to a child process executed by a second computing device and identifying a dependency created by the application message. This identified dependency is included in a dependence set of the child process and saved. A checkpoint is generated by the parent process and a checkpoint message that includes dependency information is sent from the parent process to the child process. The child process modifies the dependence set according to the dependency information and generates a second checkpoint that is saved in nonvolatile memory of the second computing device. Upon occurrence of a failure of the parent process, the child process reverts to a most recent checkpoint generated by the child process that does not include the effects of processing an orphan message.