diff --git a/peeringdb_api/backend.py b/peeringdb_api/backend.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9b7fcff
--- /dev/null
+++ b/peeringdb_api/backend.py
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+import zoneinfo
+
+from django.db.models import DateTimeField, Model
+from django.utils import timezone
+from django_peeringdb import __version__  # noqa
+from django_peeringdb.client_adaptor.backend import Backend as OldBackend
+
+utc = zoneinfo.ZoneInfo('UTC')
+
+
+class Backend(OldBackend):
+    def clean(self, obj: Model):
+        for field in obj._meta.get_fields():
+            if isinstance(field, DateTimeField):
+                value = getattr(obj, field.name)
+                if timezone.is_naive(value):
+                    setattr(obj, field.name, timezone.make_aware(value, utc))
+
+        super().clean(obj)
diff --git a/peeringdb_api/client_adapter.py b/peeringdb_api/client_adapter.py
index f22842e..ceb2b79 100644
--- a/peeringdb_api/client_adapter.py
+++ b/peeringdb_api/client_adapter.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-from django_peeringdb.client_adaptor import backend
+from peeringdb_api import backend
 
 
 def load_backend(**kwargs):