diff --git a/test/test_helper.rb b/test/test_helper.rb
index 0d86646d..afdd9db5 100644
--- a/test/test_helper.rb
+++ b/test/test_helper.rb
@@ -86,12 +86,18 @@ def signal_process(pid, signal, wait: nil)
     end
 
     def process_exists?(pid)
+      reap_processes
       Process.getpgid(pid)
       true
     rescue Errno::ESRCH
       false
     end
 
+    def reap_processes
+      Process.waitpid(-1, Process::WNOHANG)
+    rescue Errno::ECHILD
+    end
+
     # Allow skipping AR query cache, necessary when running test code in multiple
     # forks. The queries done in the test might be cached and if we don't perform
     # any non-SELECT queries after previous SELECT queries were cached on the connection