diff --git a/Lib/subprocess.py b/Lib/subprocess.py
index 24bf321..4c235d9 100644
--- a/Lib/subprocess.py
+++ b/Lib/subprocess.py
@@ -1194,7 +1194,11 @@
                 os.close(errpipe_read)
 
             if data != "":
-                _eintr_retry_call(os.waitpid, self.pid, 0)
+                try:
+                    _eintr_retry_call(os.waitpid, self.pid, 0)
+                except OSError as e:
+                    if e.errno != errno.ECHILD:
+                        raise
                 child_exception = pickle.loads(data)
                 for fd in (p2cwrite, c2pread, errread):
                     if fd is not None:
@@ -1240,7 +1244,15 @@
             """Wait for child process to terminate.  Returns returncode
             attribute."""
             if self.returncode is None:
-                pid, sts = _eintr_retry_call(os.waitpid, self.pid, 0)
+                try:
+                    pid, sts = _eintr_retry_call(os.waitpid, self.pid, 0)
+                except OSError as e:
+                    if e.errno != errno.ECHILD:
+                        raise
+                    # This happens if SIGCLD is set to be ignored or waiting
+                    # for child processes has otherwise been disabled for our
+                    # process.  This child is dead, we can't get the status.
+                    sts = 0
                 self._handle_exitstatus(sts)
             return self.returncode
 
diff --git a/Lib/test/subprocessdata/sigchild_ignore.py b/Lib/test/subprocessdata/sigchild_ignore.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1d03303
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Lib/test/subprocessdata/sigchild_ignore.py
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+import signal, subprocess, sys
+# On Linux this causes os.waitpid to fail with OSError as the OS has already
+# reaped our child process.  The wait() passing the OSError on to the caller
+# and causing us to exit with an error is what we are testing against.
+signal.signal(signal.SIGCLD, signal.SIG_IGN)
+subprocess.Popen([sys.executable, '-c', 'print("albatross")']).wait()
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_subprocess.py b/Lib/test/test_subprocess.py
index 37c4e0f..26adf22 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_subprocess.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_subprocess.py
@@ -778,6 +778,16 @@
         self.assertStderrEqual(stderr, '')
         self.assertEqual(p.wait(), -signal.SIGTERM)
 
+    def test_wait_when_sigchild_ignored(self):
+        # NOTE: sigchild_ignore.py may not be an effective test on all OSes.
+        sigchild_ignore = test_support.findfile("sigchild_ignore.py",
+                                                subdir="subprocessdata")
+        p = subprocess.Popen([sys.executable, sigchild_ignore],
+                             stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.PIPE)
+        stdout, stderr = p.communicate()
+        self.assertEqual(0, p.returncode, "sigchild_ignore.py exited"
+                         " non-zero with this error:\n%s" % stderr)
+
 
 @unittest.skipUnless(mswindows, "Windows specific tests")
 class Win32ProcessTestCase(BaseTestCase):
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index 2d12879..b49539b 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -34,6 +34,10 @@
 
 - Issue #10464: netrc now correctly handles lines with embedded '#' characters.
 
+- Issue #1731717: Fixed the problem where subprocess.wait() could cause an
+  OSError exception when The OS had been told to ignore SIGCLD in our process
+  or otherwise not wait for exiting child processes.
+
 Extension Modules
 -----------------