Vault: You'll Never Guess What This Mother Let Her Child Do

Summary

The Bert Show – "Vault: You'll Never Guess What This Mother Let Her Child Do"

Episode Date: December 12, 2025
Main Theme:
This episode explores the controversial topic of a parent providing alcohol to teens during a supervised party. The hosts and callers weigh in on whether the intent to keep kids "safe" justifies breaking the law, where parental responsibility ends, and how societal norms should shape our approach to teen drinking.

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Episode Overview

The Bert Show crew—Bert, Kristin, Cassie, Abby, Tommy, and listeners—discuss a real-life incident in Lilburn, Georgia, where Janice Burke, a mother, hosted her son’s 18th birthday party, supplied alcohol to underage guests, and attempted to monitor their safety. This led to her being charged with multiple counts of providing alcohol to minors. The episode delves into legal, ethical, and practical questions about parenting, safety, and the law, featuring calls and passionate debate among hosts and listeners.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Case Background and Mother’s Intentions

• Janice Burke’s Case: Burke hosted her son’s party, supplied a keg, took guests’ keys, limited the number of guests, and made sure everyone spent the night—believing it was safer than unsupervised parties (03:02-04:17).

  • Janice on her decision:

    "The children are going to drink no matter what. I wanted the children safe in my home so that I could protect them and that they could have a fun party."
    — Janice Burke (03:44)

  • She acknowledges breaking the law but believed the safe environment justified her actions:

    “I broke the law by providing alcohol to minors, but I also attempted to provide a safe environment.”
    — Janice Burke (04:50)

• Legal Details:

  • In Georgia, a parent can provide alcohol to their own child, and with express parental permission, to other minors. Burke did not secure consent from other parents, resulting in 15 criminal counts (04:41-05:29).
  • The party attracted police attention due to noise; upon arrival, it was revealed that underage drinking was occurring (12:51).

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2. The Ethics and Logic of Parental Supervision

• Host Perspectives:
  • Bert: Emphasizes the only legal misstep was failing to get parental permission. He sympathizes with the mother’s intent but stresses the law and respect for other parents’ wishes (04:58-05:29).
  • Jeff: Takes a stricter view, questioning the logic of "being the cool parent," warning against parents acting like friends rather than authority figures:

    "I don’t like parents who try to be too friendly with their children."
    — Jeff (08:49) “If she was a responsible adult, then... the call would go something like, ‘Here’s the deal… If you want to come hang out upstairs with me, you can… I’m going to hold onto their keys until 12 noon the next day.’ That’s what a responsible parent does. This woman… she’s just trying to be the cool mom who serves beer at her house. And I think that’s ridiculous.”
    — Jeff (09:02–09:42)

  • Cassie: Tries to balance realism with respect for the law.

    “We need boundaries. And so I do believe in the law, but a parent is in charge of their household and I trust whatever a parent wants for that household, as long as it’s not abusive… The only mistake this woman made was not getting the permission of the other parents.”
    — Cassie (11:32, 11:52)

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3. Listener Experiences and Opinions

• Sarah (27 years old): Draws comparison to military age—if teens can serve, why not drink? (05:44–06:20)

• Lisa (17 years old): Thanks the mother for prioritizing safety, arguing teens will drink anyway (06:36–07:25).

  • On parental knowledge:

    “I can’t say that my mom doesn’t think that that’s what I’m doing when I go out. I really believe she’d rather me be responsible than not… I think she agrees with me.”
    — Lisa (07:07)

• Erin (Caller): Shares a tragic local story where supervised drinking led to a teen’s fatal fall from a roof, highlighting that control only goes so far (12:00–12:39).

  • “Everybody knows you can only be so responsible for 20 drunk 18-year-olds. … One of them fell off the roof and died. So, even though they had the parents’ permission, you’re responsible for these people.”

• Russ (Caller): Story of personal loss; his 17-year-old sister was killed by another teen who drove the morning after a supervised party, reinforcing the message that teens may not understand the delayed effects of alcohol (13:03–13:57):

  • “Whenever you as an adult allow teenagers to drink in your home, it gives them a false sense of security… you don’t fully understand what alcohol does to your body…here he is thinking he did the right thing because he didn’t drive that night, but he still has the alcohol in his body.”
    — Russ (13:04–13:55)

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4. Societal and Legal Ramifications

• Law in Georgia: Parents may allow their own minor to drink or serve alcohol to other minors only with those parents’ explicit consent (04:41, 10:47). Failure to do so is a criminal offense.
• Role Model Implications: Several hosts and callers emphasized that parents modeling lawbreaking could normalize broader rule-breaking for teens:
  • “Showing your child that you disregard [the law], then they’re going to disregard other laws… Buying alcohol, it’s just a bad role model for them.”
    — Becky (10:09–10:47)

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5. Safety: Reality vs. Responsibility

• The hosts agree that, while the mother’s intentions were arguably good, there’s an inherent risk and legal liability in supervising drunk teenagers. Incidents can occur despite precautions (12:00–12:39, 13:03–13:57).
• Real-world observations: Even with keys collected, kids can still endanger themselves or others the morning after by driving hungover or intoxicated (14:22–15:02).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Janice Burke:

  “The children are going to drink no matter what. I wanted the children safe in my home so that I could protect them and that they could have a fun party.” (03:44)

• Jeff (on parental responsibility):

  “If she was a responsible adult, then the phone call is between all the parents who’d be attending the party... That’s what a responsible parent does.” (09:02–09:42)

• Russ (caller, personal tragedy):

  “You don’t fully understand what alcohol does to your body and how it affects you… he still has the alcohol in his body.” (13:03–13:57)

• Cassie (on boundaries):

  "We need boundaries. The only mistake this woman made was not getting the permission of the other parents." (11:32, 11:52)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [03:02] – Janice Burke case and audio from news report.
• [04:41] – Legal requirements in Georgia for serving alcohol to minors.
• [05:44] – Listener Sarah's commentary on age, responsibility, and legality.
• [06:36] – 17-year-old Lisa shares her view as a teenager.
• [08:17] – Host Jeff explains concerns about parents acting like friends.
• [12:00] – Erin recounts a tragedy tied to "supervised" teen drinking.
• [13:03] – Russ shares a fatal consequence of an "overnight" drinking party.
• [14:22] – Impacts of next-day intoxication/DUI.
• [15:02] – Real-life for hosts encountering drunk drivers in the morning.

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Conclusion

This episode of The Bert Show offers a raw, nuanced conversation about what it means to balance parental concern, legality, and adolescent independence in today’s world.
With passionate debate, listener-driven stories, and a mix of empathy and tough love, the show makes clear there are no easy answers—only complex, consequential choices. The legality is clear; the morality is muddier. But one thing is certain: choices made in the name of "safety" can still carry devastating risks, not just for one's own child, but for an entire community.

End of Summary

Transcript

[A]

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[C]

Get it the BURT show we kind of debated this a little bit earlier this morning, but I want to give you late Burt show listeners a shot at talking about this a little bit because you're probably going to see it on other news stations today trying to find my piece of paper with this woman's name on it. Janice Burke, or Janice Burke of Lilburn has got herself in a little trouble. Little bit there in Lil Burn with some of the parents of some students at Parkview High School. Her intentions were pretty good. And we talked about this months and months and months ago, and I don't know that our position has changed on it, but now that it's in the news, maybe we should talk about it again. We want to get your opinions on this, too. This was on WSBTV, Channel 2 last night. And as the story goes, Janice's son is 18 years old. And I think from time to time, we've heard about stories like this where the parent kind of feels like, look, my kid on the weekend or on prom night is probably going out and drinking. So what I would rather do is supply the alcohol in my own house that way, and I'll take their keys away from them. That way I can kind of just chaperone and oversee everything that's going on in a safe environment.

[D]

And make sure they don't drive drunk.

[C]

And make sure they don't drive drunk. So Janice decided that she was gonna do this in Lilburn, and now she's got like 15 different counts of providing alcohol to minors being thrown at her. I'm gonna play this audio for you from wsbtv, and then I'll open up the phones. The mother of a Parkview High School stud.

[E]

She was trying to be responsible when she agreed to chaperone her son's 18th birthday party.

[C]

But the festivities included alcohol, and that's.

[E]

How the Lilburn mother ended up in jail. Channel 2's Alan Wong is live in.

[C]

Gwinnett county with details. Well, Janice Burke went to jail, and now she's facing 15 counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. But had she not chaperoned her son's party, Ms. Burke feared that he would have ended up out here drinking and driving.

[E]

In hindsight, what I would have done was not have the party at all, obviously.

[C]

But Janice Burke, the single mother of a Parkview High School senior, believed she was doing the right thing.

[E]

The children are going to drink no matter what. I wanted the children safe in my home so that I could protect them and that they could have a fun party.

[C]

That's why Ms. Burke agreed to chaperone her son's 18th birthday party. She would provide a keg of beer, but there would be restrictions.

[E]

We're going to limit the number of people. We are going to have everyone park on the hill so they won't be parked in front of neighbors homes. And I was going to take all their keys and everyone was going to spend the night.

[C]

Ms. Burke considers herself a realist.

[E]

Children are going to try it, they're going to try alcohol, and more than likely they will try marijuana.

[C]

And that's why she says she chose to open her doors to her son's friends who were between 17 and 19 years of age.

[E]

If they're not here, then they're out on the streets endangering other people, endangering their own selves and other people's properties.

[C]

But Gwinnett County Police say Ms. Burke should have obtained parental permission to serve alcohol to each of the 15 underage guests. She did not.

[E]

I broke the law by providing alcohol to minors, but I also attempted to provide a safe environment.

[C]

And to me, the only thing I think she's guilty of is just not getting the permission of the other parents. Like, I understand where she's coming from. I get that. But there's such a fine line here, and let me restate this also, that in Georgia it is law, and I didn't know this until last night, that you can buy alcohol for underage kids. If they're your own kids, your own child, you can do that. And you can also buy alcohol for underage kids if you get the permission of those underage kids parents, which I didn't know.

[B]

I wonder.

[D]

Well, I'm going off on tangent. We can talk about that later. I just wonder if the law, if there's other things that contain alcohol that kids need, like medications or something. I wonder if that's in place because of that.

[C]

Good morning, Sarah. You're on all the hits q100.

[E]

Morning, guys.

[C]

Good morning.

[E]

I guess how I think of this is. And I'm 27 years old, so I'm not that old, but I guess at 18, we have 18 year olds in Iraq right now that are dying for us. Why can't a beer.

[C]

Well, that's not the law.

[E]

Environment they're with, you know, mother.

[F]

Because that's not the law.

[D]

There was some reason. I mean, the drinking age used to be 18 years ago and they raised it to 21 for a reason. So, I mean, it used to be that way and it didn't work.

[C]

I think that's focusing on the wrong argument, though, because the law says that you have to be 21 or you have to have the permission of the parents of the underage kids. So.

[E]

Well, it might be a separate argument. I do agree. But if there gonna. If they're gonna have the law saying that you can fight at 18, then you need to drink at 18. If they want to do it the other way, they need to say you gotta fight at 21.

[C]

Thank you for calling 404-741-1005. Good morning, Lisa.

[E]

Hi. I'm 17. Sorry, I'm a little sick, so it's a little hard for me to talk.

[C]

That's okay.

[E]

I just wanted to say that I completely, like, I pride her for doing that. Because I feel like teenagers these days, they're getting alcohol younger and younger every day and I feel like might as well make it safe. Because if they're not gonna make it safe by taking keys and they're gonna do it somewhere else and possibly get an accident and not.

[C]

If they knew that you were at one of these parties and the parent that was holding the party didn't get their permission. Because I don't think there's anything wrong with your argument. I just think you gotta tell the parents first. So how would your mom and dad react?

[E]

I mean, I don't know. I can't say that my mom doesn't think that that's what I'm doing when I go out. I really believe that she'd rather me be responsible than not because I really think she agrees with me in that. I mean, I'm gonna do it either way. So why not go to a house and be something, God forbid, went wrong? At least I'd have an adult that could take care of me.

[C]

Now, let me ask you this, because Janice here from Lil Burn also mentioned in here, they're probably gonna drink, they're probably gonna smoke weed. So is there any difference to you?

[E]

Any difference of what?

[C]

Like, if you go to a party and, you know, the mom is there basically watching the kids drink, but she's also watching them smoke weed. Does that change for you at all?

[E]

I mean, I think weed and drinking alcohol is two completely different things. Kind of. I mean, I mean, I don't know. I don't know if that's what was going on. I haven't really thought about weed because I think of that as a little bit more severe than alcohol. But I mean, I think either way. I mean, I don't know, maybe I can't separate the both of them. I just think as long. I just think that point blank, they're going to do it either way. So I feel like having an adult there who's taking keys, who's making sure that no one can leave if they're intoxicated, is completely better because they're going to do it either way.

[C]

What do you think, Jeff?

[F]

Well, I think the problem is this particular parent. Like she's Laughing about it. And she's talking about how, you know, the booze is the same as weed. And, you know, we asked the question earlier. What if this mom, what if the kid didn't want to drink beer? What if he wanted to, you know, smoke weed? Then would she go buy it for him? Because, I mean, he can get in trouble. That's dangerous. Can end up in jail for buying it. Can end up with a ticket for buying it. So would she go buy it for him? Or, you know, and then would he. Would she let all of her friends, his friends hang out and smoke? You know, without the. Like, it's just.

[C]

Where do you draw the line, is your question?

[F]

It's not where do you draw the line? It's just, parents need to be. I don't like parents who try to be too friendly with their children.

[C]

I don't think that that's what this is about.

[F]

I totally do.

[C]

I think that this is trying to provide a safe environment for your kids.

[F]

If she was a responsible adult, then the phone call is between all the parents who'd be attending the party. And the call would go something like, hey, listen, here's the deal. My son's turning 18. You know, they legally can't drink, but I have a feeling that, you know, that's what they're up to. So what do you think about having everybody over at the house, and we'll let them drink and we'll let them crash, and they're gonna be partying in the basement. If you want to come hang out upstairs with me, you can. That's no problem. You can check in with them anytime. But I'm gonna hold onto their keys until 12 noon the next day. You cool with that? What do you think about that? Good idea, bad idea? Like, that's what a responsible parent does. This woman, that she's laughing through the whole thing, she's just trying to be the cool mom who serves beer at her house. And I think that's ridiculous.

[D]

Well, what if she knows that the.

[B]

Other parents wouldn't let the kids attend her party, and therefore, you know, her son's gonna be left without an 18th birthday party, which means they're gonna hold a party somewhere else where there aren't any adults.

[F]

Tough. Yeah, tough. Then it's time to sit down and go, look, I didn't write the laws. I don't know that I agree with the laws. But the law says you can't have a beer until you're 21. And you know what? If that's the case and if you're, you know, like, you have to be a parent.

[D]

Agreed.

[C]

Hey, Becky. Yeah? Where you at?

[E]

I'm right here. Driving down 675. But I agree with Jeff. I think that, you know, the parent role that we play. My mom was a pool mom, and she bought these things called Cisco, because I talked her into it and said they were wine coolers, and everybody was just. And I just think, as a parent, you have to be the role model that, you know, regardless whether you agree with the law or not, you have to abide by it. Because showing your child that you disregard that, then they're going to disregard other laws that they think, oh, well, my mom, you know, blah, blah, blah. And, you know, I think that buying alcohol is just. It's just a bad role model for them.

[C]

And once again, the law in Georgia says that you can provide alcohol for your underage child, and you can do that if you get the permission of the parents of underage kids also.

[E]

Yeah, I think if. Now that I have a parent child, and I thought differently before I had children, but now that I have a child, I don't know that I would appreciate a parent calling me saying that they're, you know, going to provide alcohol for my kid. I think if you teach your kid enough, they're gonna try it, but if you teach them in the right ways, they're not gonna get in the car and drive. They're gonna, you know, try to.

[D]

You hope.

[E]

Yeah, I hope. But I'm saying that that's my opinion. I think if you think if you train them right, then they're going to try something or not try something, but they're going to probably do the right thing.

[D]

See, I'm in the middle. Like, I'm a realist, but I also believe that the laws are there because unfortunately, as a society, we can't govern ourselves. We have to have boundaries. We prove that. And so I do believe in the law, but a parent is in charge of their household, and I trust whatever a parent wants for that household, as long as it's not abusive.

[E]

And.

[D]

And I think the only mistake this woman made was not getting the permission of the other parents.

[C]

Hello, Erin.

[E]

Good morning. How are y' all doing?

[D]

Great.

[C]

What do you think here?

[E]

Well, there was a similar situation like this at my high school. And the mom. Most of the parents knew about it. Not all of them did, but all the kids came over, they took their keys. They weren't allowed to leave the premises. But everybody knows you can only be so responsible for 20 drunk 18 year olds and a couple of them decided in their drunken stupor that they were going to go get up on the roof and one of them fell off the roof and died.

[C]

Oh, geez.

[E]

So even though they had the parents permission, like you're responsible for these people and when you take responsibility for 18 year old drunk kids, how far can you really go? You can't watch them every step of the way.

[C]

Well, I think you take on that responsibility if that's what you're going to do.

[F]

Plus this one, this case with this woman, I would love to know the history. Maybe they covered this on WSP last night, Bert, when you were watching. But how did the authorities find out that this was going on?

[C]

The party was so loud that one of the neighbors called and when the cops in, they found out what was going on and the woman explained what she was doing and that was it from that point.

[G]

Gotcha.

[C]

All right, last call here. Good morning, Russ.

[G]

Yes, how are you?

[C]

Good, sir.

[G]

Good. I was calling about this whole issue and I just think that the thing that escapes a lot of people is that whenever you as an adult allow teenagers to drink in your home, it kind of gives them a false sense of security. About two years ago, my sister, on her 17th birthday, she was, was killed by a drunk driver. And the guy that hit her was 17 years old also. And he went to a similar party and the mother insisted that all the kids stay overnight. But whenever you're 16, 17, 18 years old, you don't fully understand what alcohol does to your body and how it affects you. And so true. This kid, they stayed up drinking till like 2, 3 o' clock in the morning. And the next, next day he drives to go home and he's driving his car. My sister's walking my parents dog and she gets hit by this kid. And here he is thinking he did the right thing because he didn't drive that night, but he still had the alcohol in his body.

[C]

That's true.

[D]

That's a good point.

[A]

Yep.

[G]

And they all think they're safe because there's parents allowing it to happen. So now you know, my parents, you know, my sister was killed by a driver like this. This kid was 17, you know, is in jail now for manslaughter. And this mother who like allowed all this happen is still waiting for court date. So it affects so many different people's lives. It's just not a decision to make. You know, it's like people are gonna, you know, kids are gonna experiment or whatever, you know, but by allowing them to do that, you're making a big mistake.

[C]

That's a good point. Cause you are still drunk the next day. Also.

[D]

It's a great point. I mean, but part of me also thinks, well if that kid wasn't at that party, the kid might have been drinking out the night before. Like, I mean, I don't know. I don't know. I'm sorry for his loss.

[F]

The we had a friend in Arizona who was a cop and he said that they would pull over. Generally speaking, more people the night like on a Saturday or Sunday morning. The biggest time to pull over d eyes was Sunday morning.

[C]

Is that right? Cuz people are up Saturday night.

[F]

People going to church.

[C]

Yeah.

[F]

Like they go out, party the night before, come in at 2 or 2:30.

[C]

In the morning, get up at set.

[F]

Their alarm at 8 o', clock, take hop in the shower, go to church for 9 o' clock mass and they're still wasted.

[D]

The sad thing is like we get up so early in the morning. There's been plenty of drunk drivers I've seen on the way here to the station during the week, you know, and those aren't teenagers.

[B]

Get it?

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[A]

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