Lissie Clark knows that she is vulnerable to exploitation, but she can't tell who might do her harm.

Clark, 33, does not have the skills to judge situations or people. If she doesn't run things by her mother, she tends to make the wrong decision.

Welcome to life with fetal alcohol syndrome.

"It's pretty dang scary," said Clark, who lives in Great Falls with Johnelle Howanach, a nun who adopted her as a child. "It'll be something I always work on."

"Right now, I don't see it," she said. "I hate to say it this way, but I'm kind of like the go-along."

If someone wants to go to the bar and drink, Clark will go. If they want to eat chocolate cake every day for lunch, Clark will, too, even though she knows she is at risk for diabetes. If someone wants to commit a crime, Clark will go along with that.

If Howanach points out that a certain action is a bad idea, Clark agrees with her. She just can't identify the right choice on her own.

Clark has lived with Howanach since she was 6. After so many years, the women have developed a solid relationship that benefits both of them.

But it wasn't always so functional. There were plenty of times that Howanach thought Clark would never succeed.

"I have to accept when Lissie does these unacceptable things, I know that it's not deliberate," she said. "People who work with those with fetal alcohol syndrome or spectrum disorders have got to not take it personally. You can't."

"People get burnt out," Howanach said. "You've got to say, 'I know it's because of how their brain functions. I know they do what they think is the logical way or the way they're supposed to act.' "

Clark and Howanach have become outspoken advocates for people with alcohol-related brain damage.

Clark's dog biscuit business, Lissie's Luv Yums, is a platform for education. Every package of homemade biscuits includes a fact sheet about fetal alcohol syndrome.

"The general public doesn't understand that these are people with alcohol-related birth defects, and it's permanent," Howanach said. "Their brain just doesn't function like the average brain."

Contact Diane Cochran at dcochran@billingsgazette.com or 657-1287.