Given a foliation $\mathcal{F}$ on $X$ and an embedding $X\subseteq Y$, is there a foliation on $Y$ extending $\mathcal{F}$? Using formal methods, we show that this question has an affirmative answer whenever the embedding is sufficiently positive with respect to $(X,\mathcal{F})$ and the singularities of $\mathcal{F}$ belong to a certain class. These tools also apply in the case where $Y$ is the total space of a deformation of $X$. Regarding the uniqueness of the extension, we prove a foliated version of a statement by Fujita and Grauert ensuring the existence of tubular neighborhoods. We also give sufficient conditions for a foliation to have only trivial unfoldings, generalizing a result due to Gómez-Mont.