Perhaps the most important aspect of MVCFS is our staff. Our team is composed of professionals with a rich combination of experience and training. Each team member is committed to their work and genuinely enjoys helping our children and families.
Leadership
Dan Petrie, Chief Executive Officer
Dan started working in a Quincy, California group home with Foster Children in 1985 when he was 18 years old. He enjoyed the work immensely and bonded quickly with the children. He knew he was meant to do this kind of work. He transferred to Sacramento City College, majored in Psychology, and went on to California State University at Sacramento where he received his BA and MA degrees. In 1989, he began working at MVCFS as a weekend Supervisor. In 1991, Dan began an employee training program for the group home staff and provided training sessions during the week. He continued to supervise the weekend shift and attend graduate school at night. Dan became the Program Director at the Nevada City Ranch in 1992 and Sr. Program Director in 2000. In 2015, he became the Chief Executive Officer.
I am proud of the programs that we have developed over the past 52 years and feel very blessed to have been able to work directly with all of the founders in the Milhous family and learn from their lifelong experiences of serving children with special needs and welcoming them into their homes. Today we do our best to carry on the Milhous family tradition of caring for special needs children, creating the most homelike atmosphere possible and treating them with the same level of care, nurturing, and respect that we would our own children.” –Dan Petrie, CEO
Richard Milhous, Chief Financial Officer
Richard Milhous is one of five family founders of Milhous Children’s Services (MCS) in Nevada City, California, which opened in 1968 as Milhous Boys Ranch. He was Chief Executive Officer of the organization for over 47 years and now serves as Chief Financial Officer for Mountain Valley Child and Family Services, providing ongoing support and consultation to the Board of Directors and staff.
Richard has filled many roles at our organization including counselor, training coordinator, cook, rancher, 4-H leader and the ranch’s first schoolteacher. He has overseen program development, construction, maintenance and animal care, milked dairy cows, raised livestock and operated heavy equipment, all in service of helping troubled children learn to reintegrate with their families and communities.
Richard was born in Lindsay, CA in 1941. In 1951, his family moved to a 600-acre ranch in North San Juan in Nevada County at age 10. In 1959, Richard graduated from Nevada Union High School, in Grass Valley, CA. He obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Public Administration from St. Mary’s College in Lafayette, CA.
Richard holds several pilots’ licenses and takes aerobatic training to further his flying skills. He also rides Harley Davidson motorcycles, goes ballroom and western dancing and has trained horses and dogs to be working animals on the ranch. Richard married Janet Chesney in 1962 in Auburn, CA. They have three children, 10 grandchildren and four great grandchildren.