Necco is the latest business to join the Winchester-Clark County Chamber of Commerce.

While Necco is located in Lexington, it offers many services to children and adolescents in Clark County, Chris Frazier, general manager at Necco, said.

The business celebrated its new partnership with the Chamber Thursday.

“We’re actually trying to grow our company,” he said.

Necco specializes in foster care, adoption, counseling and support services. The agency also has behavioral health services and an independent living program. Necco’s Lexington branch has been building foster families since 2001, according to its website. It currently serves more than 50 children and adolescents, Frazier said.

Necco works with children and young adults ages birth to 21 in homes whether it is to find them a safe and loving home, receive services through therapy or to help them learn to live independently. The organization offers counseling for children and families dealing with behavioral or substance abuse issues combined with therapeutic support, according to its website.

With the chamber’s help, Frazier said he hopes to find more foster families in Clark County.

Frazier said foster parents go through a thorough screening and background check to be considered.

There are more than 9,500 children in the foster care system in Kentucky, Frazier said. Ultimately, the goal is to return children to their parents.

“That’s what we try to do,” he said.

However, that’s not always the case, he said. Frazier said he estimates about 20 percent of parents with children in the system eventually terminate their rights, leaving the children to be in the state’s care unless the children are adopted.

Necco also offers services in other Kentucky counties as well as in other states such as Georgia, Ohio and West Virginia.