Parental alienation is a process that can occur between two parents that are consciously or unconsciously trying to align the children at the emotional expense of the other parent. PAS is the consequences of severe parental alienation when the children get to the point where they have been programmed by the alienating parent to vilify the targeted parent without any justification. On the other hand, lets get our definitions correct. This should not be the issue. The issue is the safety and welfare of the children at a time when parents are battling.
False allegations do occur.
What is not known is whether the false allegations occur more or less often than what most professionals think. And it is true that courts are suspicious when allegations of abuse first occur in the context of a divorce. The fact is professionals and the courts are not good in determining false allegations. Many professionals working for childcare agencies are not adequately trained in getting the truth from children because children can be manipulated and inadvertently influenced in their testimony. Another problem is the lack of a professionally agreed upon protocol for conducting such an assessment because of the lack of research and validation studies supporting specific procedures.