anonymous child – Pete Buttigieg says an anonymous, unsubstantiated allegation of child abuse led child protective services to investigate his family, separating him from his four-year-old twins for 24 hours—an episode he likened to “swatting.”
Pete Buttigieg still remembers the knock at the door. In his telling, it didn’t come with sirens—just a police officer and a child protective services worker, arriving at his home to ask to speak with him.
In a Substack post published on Friday, the former US transportation secretary said an anonymous and baseless accusation of child abuse set that process in motion, resulting in him being separated from his four-year-old twins.
He called the episode “among the darkest hours of my life” and compared the allegation to “swatting. ” a practice where false emergency reports are used to force a law enforcement response. “Now imagine the same concept, but with Child Protective Services instead of a SWAT team,” Buttigieg wrote. “Hadn’t thought of that?. Me neither. until a few days ago when a police officer and a CPS worker showed up at our home and politely asked to speak with me.”.
The investigation required Buttigieg and his husband, Chasten, to separate themselves from their children for 24 hours. Buttigieg said he sent their children to their grandparent’s house.
The allegation was later found to be unsubstantiated and politically motivated, he said.
Buttigieg wrote that an anonymous caller contacted CPS. The caller said he had spoken to a woman who claimed to have met Buttigieg at a conference several years ago in Alabama. where she said he told her he had committed violent crimes. and the caller believed Buttigieg’s children were still at risk. Buttigieg said he had never been to the place the caller claimed.
“This is a cruel, politically motivated hoax that harmed our family,” Buttigieg wrote. He also said, “I don’t know who did this, or exactly what prompted them to try.”
He suggested the timing of the accusation stood out. Buttigieg said it happened soon after they shared photos of their family on social media for Father’s Day, and during a month meant to make families like theirs feel “welcome and safe.”
In a statement. a spokesperson for the Michigan state police confirmed that the department received an “anonymous report” earlier this week. Shanon Banner. the department spokesperson. said: “The Michigan state police and Child Protective Services responded and determined the report was false.” She added: “False reports are dangerous and divert law enforcement officers and Child Protective Services workers from responding to legitimate emergencies and protecting vulnerable children and families.”.
For Buttigieg, the harm wasn’t only the administrative steps. It was the personal rupture—four-year-old twins taken out of the home for a day, the shock of suddenly having to comply, and the uncertainty that comes with an allegation he says he never made, never visited, and never deserved.
Pete Buttigieg Chasten Buttigieg child abuse allegation CPS investigation Michigan state police swatting analogy four-year-old twins Father’s Day
Man that sounds like straight up swatting but for CPS??
I’m not even sure why CPS would show up without “proof” first. Like what are they supposed to do, just take a random call and break up families for a day? Seems wild.
The Alabama thing sounds made up to me tbh. If she “met him at a conference” years ago and somehow that turns into kids being taken… that’s like, story time. Also isn’t Buttigieg the one with the whole “respect” thing? I don’t know, just seems convenient politically.
So basically someone called and said he was violent, and then CPS showed up and said “yeah ok” and separated the kids for 24 hours. That part is insane. But also I don’t buy the “darkest hours” framing like it’s all fake, because CPS has procedures and they don’t just do this for fun, right? Either way, swatting comparisons always get clicks, but the knock on the door is the real scary part.