Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg revealed Friday that his family was targeted by a false child welfare report, leading authorities to temporarily separate him from his 4-year-old twins.
In a Substack post titled “A Terrible Thing Happened to My Family,” Buttigieg described how an anonymous report prompted Michigan State Police officers and Child Protective Services workers to visit his home in Traverse City earlier this week. Authorities later determined the allegations were unfounded.
Buttigieg stated that investigators required him and his husband, Chasten Buttigieg, to remain separated from their children for about 24 hours during the investigation. Their twins, Penelope and Gus, also underwent forensic interviews as part of the inquiry.
“For twenty-four deeply distressing hours, we had no idea what I was accused of or what was about to happen,” Buttigieg wrote. “We could not understand someone abusing the system like this in order to hurt me and my family.”
Michigan State Police confirmed receiving an anonymous report and stated that investigators, along with Child Protective Services, determined it was false. Department spokesperson Shanon Banner noted that false reports divert law enforcement and child welfare workers from legitimate emergencies.
Buttigieg said the anonymous caller claimed to have spoken with a woman who alleged they met years earlier at a conference in Alabama, where he confessed to committing violent crimes. Buttigieg denied ever attending the conference or meeting the woman described by the caller, calling the allegations “a cruel, politically motivated hoax.”
The former Cabinet secretary compared the incident to “swatting”—false emergency reports designed to trigger police responses—but emphasized that this case weaponized the child welfare system against him and his family for political reasons.
He stated he does not know who filed the report or what prompted it. Buttigieg noted that the incident occurred shortly after he and his husband shared Father’s Day photos of their family on social media and during Pride Month, but could not confirm a direct connection.
Buttigieg praised the professionalism of the responding officer and child welfare worker while condemning the person who filed the report. He urged attention to the harm caused by false allegations that consume public resources and inflict lasting trauma on families.
“We got our family back together,” Buttigieg wrote. “But no family should have to endure what ours did because someone decided to weaponize a system intended to protect children.”
