diff --git a/Lib/test/test_distutils.py b/Lib/test/test_distutils.py
index fcd792d945a2..2d871d36bd31 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_distutils.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_distutils.py
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
 
 def test_main():
     test.test_support.run_unittest(distutils.tests.test_suite())
+    test.test_support.reap_children()
 
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":