diff --git a/cpp/cmake_modules/Findc-ares.cmake b/cpp/cmake_modules/Findc-ares.cmake
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..1366ce33fa790
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cpp/cmake_modules/Findc-ares.cmake
@@ -0,0 +1,108 @@
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+# http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+#
+# Tries to find c-ares headers and libraries.
+#
+# Usage of this module as follows:
+#
+#  find_package(c-ares)
+#
+# Variables used by this module, they can change the default behaviour and need
+# to be set before calling find_package:
+#
+#  CARES_HOME - When set, this path is inspected instead of standard library
+#               locations as the root of the c-ares installation.
+#               The environment variable CARES_HOME overrides this variable.
+#
+# - Find CARES
+# This module defines
+#  CARES_INCLUDE_DIR, directory containing headers
+#  CARES_SHARED_LIB, path to c-ares's shared library
+#  CARES_FOUND, whether c-ares has been found
+
+if( NOT "${CARES_HOME}" STREQUAL "")
+    file( TO_CMAKE_PATH "${CARES_HOME}" _native_path )
+    list( APPEND _cares_roots ${_native_path} )
+elseif ( CARES_HOME )
+    list( APPEND _cares_roots ${CARES_HOME} )
+endif()
+
+if (MSVC)
+  set(CARES_LIB_NAME cares.lib)
+else ()
+  set(CARES_LIB_NAME
+    ${CMAKE_SHARED_LIBRARY_PREFIX}cares${CMAKE_SHARED_LIBRARY_SUFFIX})
+  set(CARES_STATIC_LIB_NAME
+    ${CMAKE_STATIC_LIBRARY_PREFIX}cares${CMAKE_STATIC_LIBRARY_SUFFIX})
+endif ()
+
+# Try the parameterized roots, if they exist
+if (_cares_roots)
+  find_path(CARES_INCLUDE_DIR NAMES ares.h
+    PATHS ${_cares_roots} NO_DEFAULT_PATH
+    PATH_SUFFIXES "include")
+  find_library(CARES_SHARED_LIB
+    NAMES ${CARES_LIB_NAME}
+    PATHS ${_cares_roots} NO_DEFAULT_PATH
+    PATH_SUFFIXES "lib")
+  find_library(CARES_STATIC_LIB
+    NAMES ${CARES_STATIC_LIB_NAME}
+    PATHS ${_cares_roots} NO_DEFAULT_PATH
+    PATH_SUFFIXES "lib")
+else ()
+  pkg_check_modules(PKG_CARES cares)
+  if (PKG_CARES_FOUND)
+    set(CARES_INCLUDE_DIR ${PKG_CARES_INCLUDEDIR})
+    find_library(CARES_SHARED_LIB
+      NAMES ${CARES_LIB_NAME}
+      PATHS ${PKG_CARES_LIBDIR} NO_DEFAULT_PATH)
+  else ()
+    find_path(CARES_INCLUDE_DIR NAMES cares.h)
+    find_library(CARES_SHARED_LIB NAMES ${CARES_LIB_NAME})
+  endif ()
+endif ()
+
+if (CARES_INCLUDE_DIR AND CARES_SHARED_LIB)
+  set(CARES_FOUND TRUE)
+else ()
+  set(CARES_FOUND FALSE)
+endif ()
+
+if (CARES_FOUND)
+  if (NOT CARES_FIND_QUIETLY)
+    if (CARES_SHARED_LIB)
+      message(STATUS "Found the c-ares shared library: ${CARES_SHARED_LIB}")
+    endif ()
+  endif ()
+else ()
+  if (NOT CARES_FIND_QUIETLY)
+    set(CARES_ERR_MSG "Could not find the c-ares library. Looked in ")
+    if ( _cares_roots )
+      set(CARES_ERR_MSG "${CARES_ERR_MSG} ${_cares_roots}.")
+    else ()
+      set(CARES_ERR_MSG "${CARES_ERR_MSG} system search paths.")
+    endif ()
+    if (CARES_FIND_REQUIRED)
+      message(FATAL_ERROR "${CARES_ERR_MSG}")
+    else (CARES_FIND_REQUIRED)
+      message(STATUS "${CARES_ERR_MSG}")
+    endif (CARES_FIND_REQUIRED)
+  endif ()
+endif ()
+
+mark_as_advanced(
+  CARES_INCLUDE_DIR
+  CARES_LIBRARIES
+  CARES_SHARED_LIB
+  CARES_STATIC_LIB
+)
diff --git a/cpp/cmake_modules/ThirdpartyToolchain.cmake b/cpp/cmake_modules/ThirdpartyToolchain.cmake
index 37808e4cb0d8d..9bd6cb68c70e7 100644
--- a/cpp/cmake_modules/ThirdpartyToolchain.cmake
+++ b/cpp/cmake_modules/ThirdpartyToolchain.cmake
@@ -1347,12 +1347,7 @@ if (ARROW_WITH_GRPC)
       BUILD_BYPRODUCTS "${CARES_STATIC_LIB}")
   else()
     set(CARES_VENDORED 0)
-    find_package(c-ares REQUIRED
-      PATHS ${CARES_HOME}
-      NO_DEFAULT_PATH)
-    if(TARGET c-ares::cares)
-      get_property(CARES_STATIC_LIB TARGET c-ares::cares_static PROPERTY LOCATION)
-    endif()
+    find_package(c-ares REQUIRED)
   endif()
   message(STATUS "c-ares library: ${CARES_STATIC_LIB}")