I have noticed that some women's groups are eager to deny that parental alienation even exists. I think it does exist and there are incentives to do that. In fact it's not even something that affects only fathers, it can happen to anyone.

Some reasons why a parent might try to alienate the child from the other parent:

  • The parent who does the parental alienation is a narcissist/psychopath

-The parent who does the parental alienation is an abuser and wants to isolate the victim/child

-The parent who does the parental alienation wants to justify why they had an affair during marriage (I had to cheat your father was an asshole etc.)

-The parent who does the parental alienation wants to start a new life in another state/country and views the other parent as an obstacle to their plans to move far away.

It's interesting that the people who will tell you that a 19 yo man can groom and brainwash his 17 yo girlfriend, will also tell you that it's impossible for a parent to manipulate their 5 yo child to hate the other parent.

Is it possible that some genuine abusers take advantage of the protections against parental alienation? Yes, but many laws and regulations can be abused. It doesn't mean those laws and regulations are inherently unjust.