Finding Controls in an ITemplated Custom Control

I have created a custom server control with properties implementing the ITemplate interface. It is basically a custom panel box with a header, body & footer. Here is the code:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.UI;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls;
using System.Web.UI.HtmlControls;

namespace ACME.Web.Controls
{
    [ParseChildren(true)]
    [DefaultProperty("Text")]
    [ToolboxData("")]
    public class Panel : WebControl, INamingContainer
    {

        private ITemplate _header = null;
        private Control _headerControl = null;
        private Control _headerContainerControl = null;

        private ITemplate _content = null;
        private Control _contentControl = null;
        private Control _contentContainerControl = null;

        private ITemplate _footer = null;
        private Control _footerControl = null;
        private Control _footerContainerControl = null;

        [PersistenceMode(PersistenceMode.InnerProperty),
          TemplateContainer(typeof(TemplateControl)),
          TemplateInstance(TemplateInstance.Single)]
        public ITemplate Header
        {
            get { return _header; }
            set { _header = value; }
        }

        [PersistenceMode(PersistenceMode.InnerProperty),
          TemplateContainer(typeof(TemplateControl)),
          TemplateInstance(TemplateInstance.Single)]
        public ITemplate Content
        {
            get { return _content; }
            set { _content = value; }
        }

        [PersistenceMode(PersistenceMode.InnerProperty),
          TemplateContainer(typeof(TemplateControl)),
          TemplateInstance(TemplateInstance.Single)]
        public ITemplate Footer
        {
            get { return _footer; }
            set { _footer = value; }
        }

        protected override void CreateChildControls()
        {
            Controls.Clear();

            if (this.ID == null) this.ID = "panel-" + Guid.NewGuid().ToString();

            this.CssClass = "panel";

            if (this.Header == null)
            {
                this.CssClass += " without-header";
            }
            else
            {
                this.CssClass += " with-header";

                _headerControl = new System.Web.UI.WebControls.Panel { CssClass = "panel-header" };
                _headerControl.Controls.Add(new System.Web.UI.WebControls.Panel { CssClass = "panel-header-l" });
                _headerControl.Controls.Add(new System.Web.UI.WebControls.Panel { CssClass = "panel-header-c" });
                _headerControl.Controls.Add(new System.Web.UI.WebControls.Panel { CssClass = "panel-header-r" });

                _headerControl.Controls[1].Controls.Add(new System.Web.UI.WebControls.Panel { CssClass = "panel-header-wrapper" });
                _headerControl.Controls[1].Controls[0].Controls.Add(new System.Web.UI.WebControls.Panel { CssClass = "wrapper" });

                _headerContainerControl = new Control();
                if (this.Header != null)
                {
                    Header.InstantiateIn(_headerContainerControl);
                }
                else
                {
                    _headerContainerControl.Controls.Add(new LiteralControl("Test"));
                }

                _headerControl.Controls[1].Controls[0].Controls[0].Controls.Add(_headerContainerControl);
                Controls.Add(_headerControl);
            }

            _contentControl = new System.Web.UI.WebControls.Panel { CssClass = "panel-body" };
            _contentControl.Controls.Add(new System.Web.UI.WebControls.Panel { CssClass = "panel-body-t" });
            _contentControl.Controls[0].Controls.Add(new System.Web.UI.WebControls.Panel { CssClass = "panel-body-t-l" });
            _contentControl.Controls[0].Controls.Add(new System.Web.UI.WebControls.Panel { CssClass = "panel-body-t-c" });
            _contentControl.Controls[0].Controls.Add(new System.Web.UI.WebControls.Panel { CssClass = "panel-body-t-r" });

            _contentControl.Controls.Add(new System.Web.UI.WebControls.Panel { CssClass = "panel-body-m" });
            _contentControl.Controls[1].Controls.Add(new System.Web.UI.WebControls.Panel { CssClass = "panel-body-m-l" });
            _contentControl.Controls[1].Controls.Add(new System.Web.UI.WebControls.Panel { CssClass = "panel-body-m-c" });
            _contentControl.Controls[1].Controls.Add(new System.Web.UI.WebControls.Panel { CssClass = "panel-body-m-r" });

            _contentControl.Controls[1].Controls[1].Controls.Add(new System.Web.UI.WebControls.Panel { CssClass = "panel-body-wrapper" });
            _contentControl.Controls[1].Controls[1].Controls[0].Controls.Add(new System.Web.UI.WebControls.Panel { CssClass = "scroll-wrapper" });

            _contentControl.Controls.Add(new System.Web.UI.WebControls.Panel { CssClass = "panel-body-b" });
            _contentControl.Controls[2].Controls.Add(new System.Web.UI.WebControls.Panel { CssClass = "panel-body-b-l" });
            _contentControl.Controls[2].Controls.Add(new System.Web.UI.WebControls.Panel { CssClass = "panel-body-b-c" });
            _contentControl.Controls[2].Controls.Add(new System.Web.UI.WebControls.Panel { CssClass = "panel-body-b-r" });

            _contentContainerControl = new Control();
            if (this.Content != null)
            {
                Content.InstantiateIn(_contentContainerControl);
            }
            else
            {
                _contentContainerControl.Controls.Add(new LiteralControl("Test"));
            }

            _contentControl.Controls[1].Controls[1].Controls[0].Controls[0].Controls.Add(_contentContainerControl);
            Controls.Add(_contentControl);

            if (this.Footer == null)
            {
                this.CssClass += " without-footer";
            }
            else
            {
                this.CssClass += " with-footer";
                _footerControl = new System.Web.UI.WebControls.Panel { CssClass = "panel-footer" };

                _footerContainerControl = new Control();
                if (this.Footer != null)
                {
                    Footer.InstantiateIn(_footerContainerControl);
                }
                else
                {
                    _footerContainerControl.Controls.Add(new LiteralControl("Test"));
                }

                _footerControl.Controls.Add(_footerContainerControl);
                Controls.Add(_footerControl);
            }

        }

        protected override HtmlTextWriterTag TagKey
        {
            get { return HtmlTextWriterTag.Div; }
        }

    }

}

It works perfectly but one cannot really access controls within the ITemplates from the code behind. I would like to be able to add and remove controls from the ITemplate regions of my custom control. What would be the best way to do this?

you can try container.findcontrol("")