A selection of readers' responses to Colin P. A. Jones' Nov. 24 Zeit Gist article on child custody and abuse allegations:

Thank you for this informative article. Those of us who have been through this can relate.

In my case, it was the complete opposite situation. I would never hit or abuse a spouse/partner/child. My ex and I got into an argument about our 3-week-old child that led to her becoming angry and violent. I called her mother to come over and help (she only lived 15 minutes away), and her mother began slapping her and yelling at her to calm her down. I ended up calling the police to help with the situation. Of course they could not believe I was the one who called, and of course they accused me of instigating the trouble.