diff --git a/Lib/test/test_kqueue.py b/Lib/test/test_kqueue.py
index 28e882b1051e4c..e94edcbc107ba9 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_kqueue.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_kqueue.py
@@ -271,8 +271,8 @@ def test_fork(self):
             finally:
                 os._exit(0)
         else:
-            self.assertFalse(kqueue.closed)
             support.wait_process(pid, exitcode=0)
+            self.assertFalse(kqueue.closed)  # child done, we're still open.
 
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":