diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/ansible-core-_text.yml b/changelogs/fragments/ansible-core-_text.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..5cc90a62
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/ansible-core-_text.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+minor_changes:
+- "Avoid internal ansible-core module_utils in favor of equivalent public API available since at least Ansible 2.9 (https://github.com/ansible-collections/community.routeros/pull/38)."
diff --git a/plugins/cliconf/routeros.py b/plugins/cliconf/routeros.py
index 2e4adf7c..6c493734 100644
--- a/plugins/cliconf/routeros.py
+++ b/plugins/cliconf/routeros.py
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@
 
 from itertools import chain
 
-from ansible.module_utils._text import to_bytes, to_text
+from ansible.module_utils.common.text.converters import to_bytes, to_text
 from ansible_collections.ansible.netcommon.plugins.module_utils.network.common.utils import to_list
 from ansible.plugins.cliconf import CliconfBase, enable_mode
 
diff --git a/plugins/module_utils/routeros.py b/plugins/module_utils/routeros.py
index 20a8400b..e0488b25 100644
--- a/plugins/module_utils/routeros.py
+++ b/plugins/module_utils/routeros.py
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@
 __metaclass__ = type
 
 import json
-from ansible.module_utils._text import to_native
+from ansible.module_utils.common.text.converters import to_native
 from ansible.module_utils.basic import env_fallback
 from ansible_collections.ansible.netcommon.plugins.module_utils.network.common.utils import to_list, ComplexList
 from ansible.module_utils.connection import Connection, ConnectionError
diff --git a/plugins/modules/api.py b/plugins/modules/api.py
index 9ad6031f..664ae7e1 100644
--- a/plugins/modules/api.py
+++ b/plugins/modules/api.py
@@ -232,7 +232,7 @@
 
 from ansible.module_utils.basic import AnsibleModule
 from ansible.module_utils.basic import missing_required_lib
-from ansible.module_utils._text import to_native
+from ansible.module_utils.common.text.converters import to_native
 
 import ssl
 import traceback
diff --git a/plugins/terminal/routeros.py b/plugins/terminal/routeros.py
index 2c29d1db..8648ff5b 100644
--- a/plugins/terminal/routeros.py
+++ b/plugins/terminal/routeros.py
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@
 import re
 
 from ansible.errors import AnsibleConnectionFailure
-from ansible.module_utils._text import to_text, to_bytes
+from ansible.module_utils.common.text.converters import to_text, to_bytes
 from ansible.plugins.terminal import TerminalBase
 from ansible.utils.display import Display
 
diff --git a/tests/unit/plugins/modules/utils.py b/tests/unit/plugins/modules/utils.py
index 89b4aa25..0468b688 100644
--- a/tests/unit/plugins/modules/utils.py
+++ b/tests/unit/plugins/modules/utils.py
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 from ansible_collections.community.routeros.tests.unit.compat import unittest
 from ansible_collections.community.routeros.tests.unit.compat.mock import patch
 from ansible.module_utils import basic
-from ansible.module_utils._text import to_bytes
+from ansible.module_utils.common.text.converters import to_bytes
 
 
 def set_module_args(args):