diff --git a/packages/react-core/src/components/DatePicker/DatePicker.tsx b/packages/react-core/src/components/DatePicker/DatePicker.tsx
index 8aebe13f21f..9626eaaa171 100644
--- a/packages/react-core/src/components/DatePicker/DatePicker.tsx
+++ b/packages/react-core/src/components/DatePicker/DatePicker.tsx
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ const DatePickerBase = (
     className,
     locale = undefined,
     dateFormat = yyyyMMddFormat,
-    dateParse = (val: string) => val.split('-').length === 3 && new Date(`${val}T00:00:00`),
+    dateParse = (val: string) => (val.split('-').length === 3 ? new Date(`${val}T00:00:00`) : new Date(undefined)),
     isDisabled = false,
     placeholder = 'YYYY-MM-DD',
     value: valueProp = '',
@@ -230,7 +230,7 @@ const DatePickerBase = (
   return (
     <div className={css(styles.datePicker, className)} ref={datePickerWrapperRef} style={style} {...props}>
       <Popover
-        elementToFocus={valueDate ? focusSelectorForSelectedDate : focusSelectorForUnselectedDate}
+        elementToFocus={isValidDate(valueDate) ? focusSelectorForSelectedDate : focusSelectorForUnselectedDate}
         position="bottom"
         bodyContent={
           <CalendarMonth