In Sweden, as in many other countries, students that schools are unable to handle are removed from their local environments and sometimes from their parental homes and moved to rural residential care homes. Although ‘home’ and ‘school’ are clearly considered places where problems exist, it is not these places that are scrutinised and subjected to change, but the students. How do the change of place and the performance of the alternative ‘home’ and alternative ‘school’ contribute to the students’ adjustment? In this article we explore the significance of place in these measures and ask questions about how possibilities for agency and subjectivities are produced.  The article is based on an ethnographic study of two residential care homes for troubled youth, aged 12 to 15. The results show how complex assemblages produce opportunities and limitations for care and education and how location and buildings partake in the constitution of possible subjectivities and agency. The analysis inspired by Actor-Network Theory (ANT) can capture mobility and flow, an important aspect when studying complexity. This kind of analysis enables a study of the complex arrangements for disadvantaged youth that takes into consideration not just social interactions but also materiality.