diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 3ea14a3c3..532e846d1 100755
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 
 	<artifactId>opensrp-server-core</artifactId>
 	<packaging>jar</packaging>
-	<version>2.11.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
+	<version>2.11.2-SNAPSHOT</version>
 	<name>opensrp-server-core</name>
 	<description>OpenSRP Server Core module</description>
 	<url>https://github.com/OpenSRP/opensrp-server-core</url>
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/opensrp/repository/LocationRepository.java b/src/main/java/org/opensrp/repository/LocationRepository.java
index 628764081..3e3bf6a5b 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/opensrp/repository/LocationRepository.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/opensrp/repository/LocationRepository.java
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ public interface LocationRepository extends BaseRepository<PhysicalLocation>, Lo
 	 * This methods searches for jurisdictions using the parentId and location properties
 	 * It returns the Geometry optionally if @param returnGeometry is set to true. 
 	 * @param returnGeometry boolean which controls if geometry is returned
-	 * @param parentId string the parent id of the jurisdiction being searched
+	 * @param parentId string the parent id of the jurisdiction being searched. If empty search for ROOT location.
 	 * @param properties map of location properties to filter with, each entry in map has property name and value
 	 * @return jurisdictions matching the params 
 	 */
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/opensrp/repository/postgres/LocationRepositoryImpl.java b/src/main/java/org/opensrp/repository/postgres/LocationRepositoryImpl.java
index fb0a01068..7e9ee0ea1 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/opensrp/repository/postgres/LocationRepositoryImpl.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/opensrp/repository/postgres/LocationRepositoryImpl.java
@@ -356,7 +356,7 @@ public Collection<StructureDetails> findStructureAndFamilyDetails(double latitud
 	public List<PhysicalLocation> findLocationsByProperties(boolean returnGeometry, String parentId,
 	        Map<String, String> properties) {
 		LocationMetadataExample locationMetadataExample = new LocationMetadataExample();
-		if (StringUtils.isNotBlank(parentId)) {
+		if (parentId != null) {
 			locationMetadataExample.createCriteria().andParentIdEqualTo(parentId);
 		}
 		List<Location> locations = locationMetadataMapper.selectManyByProperties(locationMetadataExample, properties,
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/opensrp/util/LocalDateDeserializer.java b/src/main/java/org/opensrp/util/LocalDateDeserializer.java
index 991a4b410..ed1b92c61 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/opensrp/util/LocalDateDeserializer.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/opensrp/util/LocalDateDeserializer.java
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@
 import org.joda.time.LocalDate;
 
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonParser;
-import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonProcessingException;
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonToken;
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.DeserializationContext;
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.deser.std.StdScalarDeserializer;
@@ -19,8 +18,7 @@ public LocalDateDeserializer() {
 	}
 	
 	@Override
-	public LocalDate deserialize(JsonParser jsonParser, DeserializationContext ctxt)
-	        throws IOException, JsonProcessingException {
+	public LocalDate deserialize(JsonParser jsonParser, DeserializationContext context) throws IOException {
 		JsonToken currentToken = jsonParser.getCurrentToken();
 		if (currentToken == JsonToken.VALUE_STRING) {
 			String dateTimeAsString = jsonParser.getText().trim();
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/opensrp/util/LocalDateDeserializerTest.java b/src/test/java/org/opensrp/util/LocalDateDeserializerTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..aa8ea1f33
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/java/org/opensrp/util/LocalDateDeserializerTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+package org.opensrp.util;
+
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonParser;
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonToken;
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.DeserializationContext;
+import org.junit.Assert;
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.mockito.Mockito;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+
+public class LocalDateDeserializerTest {
+
+	@Test
+	public void testDeserializer() throws IOException {
+		LocalDateDeserializer localDateDeserializer = new LocalDateDeserializer();
+		DeserializationContext context = Mockito.mock(DeserializationContext.class);
+		JsonParser jsonParser = Mockito.mock(JsonParser.class);
+		Mockito.doReturn(JsonToken.VALUE_STRING).when(jsonParser).getCurrentToken();
+		Mockito.doReturn("2021-05-21").when(jsonParser).getText();
+		Assert.assertNotNull(localDateDeserializer.deserialize(jsonParser, context));
+		Mockito.doReturn(null).when(jsonParser).getCurrentToken();
+		Assert.assertNull(localDateDeserializer.deserialize(jsonParser, context));
+
+	}
+}
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/opensrp/util/LocalDateSerializerTest.java b/src/test/java/org/opensrp/util/LocalDateSerializerTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..718b07fb2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/java/org/opensrp/util/LocalDateSerializerTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+package org.opensrp.util;
+
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonGenerator;
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.SerializerProvider;
+import org.joda.time.LocalDate;
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.mockito.ArgumentCaptor;
+import org.mockito.Mockito;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+
+public class LocalDateSerializerTest {
+
+	@Test
+	public void testSerializer() throws IOException {
+		ArgumentCaptor<String> argumentCaptor = ArgumentCaptor.forClass(String.class);
+		LocalDate localDate = new LocalDate();
+		LocalDateSerializer localDateSerializer = new LocalDateSerializer();
+		SerializerProvider provider = Mockito.mock(SerializerProvider.class);
+		JsonGenerator jsonGen = Mockito.mock(JsonGenerator.class);
+		localDateSerializer.serialize(localDate, jsonGen, provider);
+		Mockito.verify(jsonGen, Mockito.atLeastOnce()).writeString(argumentCaptor.capture());
+	}
+}