use IO::Pipe;
...
foreach $tapeDevice (@tapeDevices)
{
    $pipeFH = IO::Pipe->new();
    ...
    if($pid = fork())
    {
        # This is the parent.
        $pipeFH->reader();
        push @pipes, $pipeFH;
        ...
    }
    elsif(defined $pid)
    {
        # This is the child.
        $pipeFH->writer();
        # Do lots of stuff writing to tape
        ...
        $pipeFH->print("some message or other");
        ...
    }
    else
    {
        # Fork failed for some reason.
        die "fork: $!\n";
    }
}
# We have now forked a child for each tape device so
# wait for our children to finish. Print exit status.
while((my $returnPID = wait()) != -1)
{
    print "Child $returnPID returned status ",
       $? >> 8, "\n";
}
# All children have returned, get messages.
foreach $pipe (@pipes)
{
    while(defined($_ = $pipe->getline()))
    {
        # Do something
        ...
    }
}