Why Pete Buttigieg's Story Should Concern Every American

When former U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg published his essay, "A Terrible Thing Happened to My Family," he offered a rare public account of what it is like to become the subject of a child abuse investigation. Last month, an anonymous caller prompted investigators to visit his home, his four-year-old twins were subjected to forensic interviews, and he was instructed not to be alone with his children while the investigation was pending. For nearly twenty-four hours, he was not even told the nature of the allegation against him. The investigation ultimately concluded without a finding of abuse, and Michigan State Police later confirmed that the report was false. Buttigieg describes those hours as "among the darkest hours of my life."

Photo Credit: Stephen Voss, Politico

Buttigieg's essay went viral because it challenged the assumption that wealth, influence, and public prominence protect families from child abuse investigations. They do not. What those advantages can provide, however, is experienced legal counsel, public support, and the ability to shape the narrative—protections that millions of families under investigation simply do not have.

A Common Experience, An Unequal Burden

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, in 2024 state child protective agencies received approximately 4.4 million referrals involving an estimated 7.5 million children—roughly one in every ten children in the United States. A landmark study published in the American Journal of Public Health estimated that 37.4 percent of all U.S. children—more than one in three—will experience a child welfare investigation before their eighteenth birthday.

The burden of those investigations is not shared equally. The same study estimated that more than half of all Black children—53 percent—will experience a child welfare investigation before reaching adulthood. Researchers have also found substantially higher rates of child welfare involvement among families living in poverty and among parents with disabilities.

Sick Children, Accused Parents

Another population vulnerable to wrongful child welfare intervention is families raising children with rare or medically complex conditions. These families spend far more time in hospitals, specialists' offices, and emergency departments than most families, often while physicians are still trying to determine the cause of a child's illness. That combination of frequent medical encounters and diagnostic uncertainty places them at heightened risk of becoming the subject of a child welfare investigation.

Many of the findings that raise concern for physical abuse—including fractures, bruises, bleeding in the brain, retinal hemorrhages, and poor growth—can also occur in children with a wide range of medical conditions. Advances in genetics and pediatric medicine have identified a growing number of diseases that can mimic abuse.

In many children's hospitals, allegations of child abuse are evaluated by child abuse pediatricians (CAPs), a specialty created specifically to investigate suspected child maltreatment. CAPs commonly work pursuant to agreements with state agencies and Children's Advocacy Centers, and their opinions frequently become the principal medical evidence relied upon by child protective agencies, law enforcement, prosecutors, and the courts. In practice, a single physician's conclusion may determine whether a child is removed from home, whether parents lose custody, or whether criminal charges are filed. As the influence of child abuse pediatrics has grown, so too has scrutiny from courts, physicians, and legal scholars. 

The experience of medically complex families reflects a broader pattern of disproportionality within the child protection system. Like Black families, families living in poverty, and parents with disabilities, they are more likely to come under government scrutiny because of circumstances beyond their control. A child protection system committed to protecting vulnerable children must also recognize the vulnerability of the families it serves. Otherwise, the very families most in need of support may become the ones most at risk of unnecessary government intervention.