the term is still used by some evaluators and courts to discount children's fears in hostile and psychologically abusive situations.[pg 40]

And the 1996 Report of the American Psychological Association Presidential Task Force on Violence and the Family states that

Although there are no data to support the phenomenon called parental alienation syndrome, in which mothers are blamed for interfering with their children's attachment to their fathers, the term is still used by some evaluators and courts to discount children's fears in hostile and psychologically abusive situations.[pg 40] Family courts often do not consider the history of violence between the parents in making custody and visitation decisions. . . . Psychological evaluators not trained in domestic violence may contribute to this process by ignoring or minimizing the violence and by giving inappropriate pathological labels to women's responses to chronic victimization. Terms such as "parental alienation" may be used to blame the women for the children's reasonable fear of or anger toward their violent father. [pg 100]
http://www.stopfamilyviolence.org/info/custody-abuse/parental-alienation/the-truth-about-parental-alienation

Published February 23, 2007

The Truth About Parental Alienation

by Irene Weiser